The brightest colour
by Leshij
Summary: Shepard's past in the Tenth Street Reds. AU. She grew up in a religious and military institute, which scarred her soul but transformed her into a person capable of enduring unbearable psychological traumas. [Future pairing: Femshep x Liara T'Soni]
1. Asheville

09/24/2018 - Author note: Hello everyone! First of all, I wanted to say that I'm Italian so what you're going to read is a translation of what I've written in the past three years. I published this first chapter ten months ago and from that time I've grown a lot as a translator and thus I'm revisiting all I've published until now, looking for grammatical mistakes. Maybe I won't find them all and if that's the case I hope they won't ruin your reading experience.

I know that I've a biased opinion, but it's a story worth reading :)

* * *

Earth. Asheville. April 10th 2154.

 **Chapter 1 = Asheville.**

An odd silence filled the room. Only the slight hiss of the wind could be heard and that barely audible sound made Joel feel a sense of deep apprehension. "The quiet before the storm." He murmured to himself, breaking the silence.

"Joel, stop watching outside the window and help me getting up." Said Rain, feeling a little stressed.

They lived in a wooden house big enough to easily accomodate two people. However, it was built at least two hundred years prior, and for this reason, once in a while, a wooden board would rot and be replaced. Their home was located in the outskirts of the city and sorrounded by barren fields; only a narrow road lead to Asheville.

"Of course darling, It's just… I have a strange feeling, maybe it's the rain to blame! That reminds me that I am no longer in time to run off to Italy with a beautiful young woman by my side." Teased Joel with a genuine smile on his lips, and he went to help his wife.

"You can do it, if you want to! I am an independent woman!" Rain giggled and leaned her weight against his husband while she was standing up. Then, she toyed with Joel's almost-totally worn out leather jacket, but suddenly worry took over her. She lowered her head and looked at her bump. "It's only a matter of days…" She said thoughtfully. "We cannot live like this any longer. This city and the Blue templars are suffocating us. I don't want Rachel to grow up in Asheville we have to go and you know it." She spoke those last words without pausing. She had the feeling that if she said them rapidly, perhaps they would become real enough to persuade her husband of their truth.

Joel stared at her astonishing gray eyes and touched her red curls. "I know, but… there isn't any other place for us but here. I have a well-paid shitty job that it keeps us alive! And yes, our bosses are a bunch of motherfuckers, but those who belong to the other two factions are even worse! Think of it: we have something to eat while a lot of people don't! Every fucking time I go to sell rations I have to see the miserable faces of the commoners. Rachel won't grow up in a friendly place but she'll have something to eat if we stay faithful to the Templars."

Rain was motionless for a while as she scrutinized her husband with eyes full of sorrow. "Of course she won't die of hunger but this place is too dangerous! The peace between the three factions won't last forever. She could easily be killed by a bullet!"

"And what could we do? Run off? It would be a suicide. No, we'll protect her here." Joel, clearly nervous, distanced himself from her and began to pace back and forth.

"There's Spruce Pine…" Said Rain with a trembling voice.

"Spruce Pine… they describe it like an Eden: a settlement with honest people who are also willing to welcome new members… and they have supplies at choice. It doesn't smell right, but the even slightest possibility that it could be true... well, it makes me want to go there."

"Yes, supplies at choice. Imagine how Rachel would grow happy! She won't worry about the food and she would be safe." Said Rain. Her voice suddenly became delicate and serene. The previous worry seemed to be long disappeared, as if the only thought of that place made her a different person.

Joel noticed the slight change in her voice and mood and started to take into serious consideration what she was saying. "The road to Spruce Pine is full of dangers and crossing the border will be the hardest challenge."

"I know, my love. However, I have been thinking about a plan that could safely get us out of here. Obviously I'm worried too, especially for our Rachel, but I feel in my heart this is the only way for us to be happy!" Rain was nervously rubbing her hands.

The man was bewildered. "What?!" Why didn't you tell me?" His hands were sweating. Rain's proposition was inevitably becoming more and more real as the fear he was feeling.

"I wasn't ready but now we have to change our ways. We have to do it for Rachel… and you have to take us out of here! You're going to be a father and you're obliged to do whatever it's in your power to help our daughter live a joyful life!"

Joel caressed his dirty hair. "Fucking shit. Why can I never say no to you? Fuck." He took a deep breath.

Rain smiled. "So… Have I persuaded you?"

"Yeah, but only if your plan proves to be ok. What do you have in mind?"

"Sit near the table, I take the map and come back." She went to an armoir placed in a corner of the room, she opened it and grabbed the North Carolina's map. When she returned to her husband, she sat on a chair nearby the table and laid the map in front of Joel.

"Do you see this road?" Rain pointed at it on the map "Highway 26. We have to avoid it because there will be at least a dozen of guards to monitor the border. In the evening or during the night maybe twice as many. So, we must think of an alternative road, less used and…"

"Without considering we need a permit to cross it…" Joel interrupted her. "I have one of them, but it's expired because it can be used only once, look" He pulled out a scrap of sheet from the right pocket of his jacket. "The date printed here is the first of April. I have used it to deliver some packages to an important person a bit outside Asheville."

"Do you think it's possibile to counterfeit it?" Rain hoped with all her being her husband was about to answer yes.

"Perharps if I managed to add a 0 after the 1…, I think if I worked on it I would be able to do it in half an hour, but we must reach the border before midnight and if the guards verified it carefully they would notice something is off…"

"It's a stroke of luck they don't have replaced paper for olopads here in Asheville, technology makes everything so complicated." Raid took a breath of relief.

"if Asheville had the money for olopads we wouldn't be in such a miserable state." Joel went on looking at the map and all the possible roads that led outside the city. "We could take this street, the 694. There should be few patrol guards, maybe two, because it leads through the woods and to the mountains. What do you say about it?"

"I think it's a good idea. However, if we choose that route it will take us more time to reach destination but, as you have already said, the most important thing is to cross the border, then the dangers will decrease."

"So… Rain, what is your definitive answer? Do we do it?" He watched her intently.

"Yes, Joel, It's now or never, we have to dash off, let's take all the Blue Templars' money and let's hope that they would never see us again! Counterfeit the document, I fill up the luggage!" Rain was still speaking when she kneeled down and took from under the bed a big brown suitcase, she filled it with the few clothes they possessed, some supplies and then she closed it. "And if this strategy doesn't work? What do we do?"

"In the worst case scenario…I have a gun! Go take it and bring it to me. Do you see that board near the wall? Lift it and you'll find a metal box, the keys to open it are under the adjacent board." He ordered her.

"What?! A gun? How do you have it? Only the highest ranks of the organization can own weapons! How long do you have it?!" Rain was bewildered.

"Few weeks ago a friend of mine gave it to me. He's a patrol guard and it's his duty to supervise the Blue's borders... if we meet him, we are the luckiest people in the world!"

"And why do you tell me this only now?" Rains asked nervously.

"Well, as you said… owning a weapong is very dangerous."

* * *

 **35 minutes later**

"That's it…" Joel lifted the sleeve of his jacket and looked at the old watch he weared on his wrist. "It's 10.30 p.m. Now we just have to leave."

The two of them rushed outside: Joel, luggage in hand, started to run towards the backside of his house, where his car was parked; while Rain limited herself to slowly walk, holding her bump with her hand. The man was the first to get in the car. Then, he threw the luggage on the backseats, inserted the keys in the ignition switch and turned them: the car made some noise and shook a bit too, but nothing happened. Joel tried again. "Don't you dare leave me now, Buggy!" It was useless. Joel hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand to vent his frustration.

Rain saw the whole scene. "Honey?! God… why doesn't it start? Let me get in and try…"

Joel looked at her with a dry look. He snorted and then decided to get out the car and let his wife try. The women sat cautiously, turned the keys, but the result didn't change. Her husband was about to tell her something when Rain tried again. This time she slowly turned the keys and when they were reaching the end she twisted her wrist, giving them a fast blow. After some poppings the engine roared.

"Wow! That's why I love you!"Joel rejoiced.

Rain responded with a satisfied face and she moved to the passenger seat in order to let the man drive.

"Are you ready?" Said Joel, hopeful.

She nodded and they departed from their home.

* * *

Unstable houses from the foundations and people sitting on the tarmac: these were the first things Rain noticed while she was looking through the car's window. The commoners were wearing worn out clothes and their skin was yellowish, dehydrated and dirty. At the mere sight of Joel's car they began to get up and walk more and more fast until they were running.

"Fuck, crossing the infamous quarter isn't going to be a small feat! Luckily, they don't have weapons, otherwise we would be already dead." Joel sighed. "Well, we have to keep going at all costs."

"I have never seen this part of the city… God, this is absurd!" Rain was scared by the sight of so many people moving towards them: if their eyes once appeared to be totally dull now they were lighted up with awareness at the sight of their vehicle.

"Yes, they look like zombies…" Joel was horrified.

"Why don't they revolt? Why don't they try to cross the border?" Rain asked incredulous.

"The guards shoot at the sight of anyone who get close to the border by foot. Only vehicles are allowed, they are regarded as a symbol of welfare. And, even if they managed to cross it, they are in such a bad state that they wouldn't be able to reach another city or settlement." Joel explained while he was looking at the misery all around him.

"Fortunately we are leaving this place… anyway you have mentioned a certain Elvin Wright who gave you the gun and is a guard, but you have never told me anything about him, why?" Rain gazed at her husband.

"Well, he has a difficult familiar situation, every time I think about it… all the times I could have helped him more come to my mind." Joel felt a sense of guilt emerge undisturbed from the most forgotten places of his soul, and he remembered an episode.

 _"_ _Listen, Joel, how long do we know each other? In the name of our friendship, help my daughter! Or, if our friendship has no value for you, I turn to your humanity! I'm begging you!" Said Elvin without taking a breath, while he was pacing back and forth around the house, his boots made the wooden floor creak. Behind him, seated on a chair, there was his daughter. Her big black eyes stared and scrutinized Joel. She was so skinny that her eyes almost protuded from her eye sockets. The house was cramped, the walls too close from one another. The cold seeped through his bones. Everything made the situation insufferable and oppressive._

 _"_ _Of course I am your friend, but I do not set the prices, I'm in the same shitty situation as you! If I start to make discounts, I'll wind up into the next rations!" Joel said, trying to seem reasonable. He went on. "I see that you daughter is sick, but I really have no power to do anything." He felt like an arsehole, a man unworthy to exist, but it was a matter of survival. Darwinian selection; he thought. However, he set aside that observation, what kind of man had he become? He wondered._

 _"_ _If seated here, on this chair, had it been your daughter, and our position had traded places, what would you want me to do? You know the answer. This place wouldn't be like this if people thought beyond their egoistic private sphere." Elvin said, too disperate to be angry. Deep down, he knew that Joel wasn't responsible for his daughter conditions, but he seriously needed some help, now more than ever._

 _"_ _As I said, I can't lower the prices of the goods, because it doesn't depend on me, but…" Joel took the rucksack from behind his shoulders and he put it on the ground "…I can give you these: my supplies. Some of them aren't very energizing, I know, but I can't do more than this." He said while he was looking at Elvin. In the meanwhile the child was still staring at him. He felt uneasy: if he looked into her eyes, would she be able to notice he was lying? That, truth to be told, he could do more for her?_

 _"_ _I thank you for your kindness and I appreciate the fact you're willing to give up your supplies in order to give them to us, but they are insufficient, I can't prepare more than a meal with them. I really need the Standard Ration Pack. Listen to me, I have an idea…" Wright went to the poky room beside the one where they stood, opened a box and pulled out a gun, then, he returned to Joel. "This is yours if you don't make me pay the SRP, so… what do you say about it?" He watched Joel with hopeful eyes._

 _"_ _A .44 caliber pistol… I spare you the question where you found it, but tell me… what should I do with it, exactly? If they found it on me, it's probable they would use it against me." Joel said matter-of-fact._

 _"_ _A gun could always be useful, just remember to keep it in a safe place, like a box, better if locked! And the reason is that I have nothing to eat, and I simpy can't eat metal."_

 _"_ _Maybe you're right… it could be useful, especially with the job I do. So…I accept you proposal, Wright. However, if anyone suspects I have a gun, I know where to find you." Joel finished his sentence with a threatening tone._

 _The child went on to stare at him. Joel would have sworn she had never looked away for all that time._

 _"_ _Thank you so much for helping me, thank God there are still good people like you." Elvin said full of gratitude and hope._

 _Joel didn't feel happy. Without saying anything he went to the door and left. That gun was worth much more than a SRP, the triple at least, however its possession was risky, he felt dirty for accepting it, but not too much, after all._

* * *

The trip lasted about two hours. The two of them spent them quietly, thinking over and over about what was going to happen shortly afterwards.

They had to succed.

There were no other options.


	2. The border

Author note: 09/24/2018 update :)

* * *

 **Chapter 2: The Border**

 **Rain's point of view.**

When Rain and Joel arrived at the checkpoint, the sun was long gone down and the night was looming over them. The little headlights, located on the walls, enlightened the surrounding area. Since the road was more lighted up than expected, Rain began to feel alarmed. Her hands were wet with sweat.

The car was gradually slowing down, until it came to a halt. She noticed that Joel was holding the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles became white.

A guard was approaching them.

 ** _Who is he? Elvin or the other?_** Thought Rain.

The guard was closer and closer. When he made the gesture to lower the window, Joel obeyed.

Rain found her eyes enveloped by light, it was too intense.

 ** _They are going to notice that the document is counterfeit._** She thought. Her heart began to beat faster in her chest.

"Tonight no one is allowed to cross the border." The guard was pointing his rifle towards them.

Rain hadn't had the time to think that Joel replied: "How so? I have the permit. Elvin, why are you pointing your fuckin' weapon at me?!"

"Because these are the orders. Get out of the car." Elvin's look was impenetrable.

Rain saw her husband's right hand leave the steering wheel in the direction of his pants, where he was keeping the gun. Cold sweat ran down her forehead.

Joel looked at her and removed his hand from where it had been, then he opened the car's door with the other hand. "Stay in the car. No matter what happens, you stay in the car!" Without adding anything else, Joel got out of the car. He was about to close the door when Elvin stopped it with his foot and made the gesture at the other guard to come near him; once the man arrived in position he sat in the driver's seat and pointed his gun at Rain's left temple.

Time was passing too quickly. She felt powerless and she had an insane fear of dying. **_My God! What is happening?! Shit, we're fucked! So fucked!_**

In the meantime, she watched terrified the sequence of events occur in front of her eyes: Joel was forced to put his hands behind his head. Elvin was pointing his rifle at him, forcing him to pull out the gun from his pants and throw it on the ground. The two men were saying something to each other, but they were too far away from her and she couldn't hear a word.

Suddenly, she noticed that a figure was climbing down the control tower's stairs. She didn't know who he was. The man was slim and he had short blonde hair. He was wearing a refined outfit: an impeccable blue smoking, which appeared to be very expensive. He was moving his lips while he was walking towards Joel.

 ** _What the fuck is going on? Joel! Take us far away from here…_**

She wanted to cry, her eyes started to be clouded due to the tears she didn't allow to fall. She didn't wanted to give them this last satisfaction.

She looked again at the men, she wanted to intervene, somehow, but the fear, that blind fear few know, stopped her.

The blonde man went close to her loved one, until only few inches separated the two of them. They went on talking for an undefined amount of minutes.

A bang. In that instant time ceased to exist. Joel kneeled down and then fell to the ground. The blonde man laughed and turned away. A pool of blood was slowing forming below Joel's body, but he was still alive! She saw him move! As soon as Elvin turned away too from the scene, her husband started to slowly crawl towards his gun, he took it, but he hesitated too much and a bullet from the blonde's gun pierced his skin and then the flesh near his heart, finishing him.

"JOEL! NO! JOEL!" Rain screamed with all the breath she had in her lungs. A river of tears ran down her cheeks. Her hicupps were uncontrollable.

 ** _It's over, my love… what have we done? JOEL! What have we done?!_** This and other thousands of thoughts started to emerge in her mind.

"MOTHERFUCKERS! I'LL KILL YOU, I SWEAR IT!" She yelled again, louder than ever. Her voice threated to leave her, as if it wanted to halt in her throat.

A blow to her head made her feel a percing pain and after an instant her eyes saw a white light enveloping her.

Everything went blank.

* * *

 **Joel's point of view.**

 ** _Shit, this road is englightened too much_**. Joel thought.

He slowly lifted his foot from the pedal, until the car came to a halt. He gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his hands began to hurt. A guard was approaching them, he couldn't figure out who he was yet.

 ** _This. Is. A. fucking. Stroke. Of. Luck!_**

The one who made the gesture to lower the window was his friend. He could finally take a breath of relief.

 ** _Everything is going to be fine._**

"Tonight no one is allowed to cross the border." Elvin said matter-of-factly.

 ** _What does it mean?! Elvin… don't make me regret trusting a disperate asshole like you._**

"How so? I have the permit. Elvin, why are you pointing your fuckin' weapon at me?!"

 **Elvin… Elvin don't do it!**

"Because these are the orders. Get out of the car." Ordered Elvin.

A moment of rage raised quickly in him, so he touched the gun in his pants with his right hand.

 ** _This son of a bitch won't be an obstacle! I'll blown his brain up if that's what I need to do to save them._**

He gazed Rain intensely.

 ** _No, I can't shoot him. If I get out of the car there'll be more possibilities for the two of them to survive. If things go mad, she can escape!_**

Joel lifted his hand from the gun and looked at her again. "Stay in the car. No matter what happens, you stay in the car!"

He noticed the lost look of his wife and opened the door. He was about to close it when Elvin stopped it with his foot and made the gesture at the other guard to come near him. Once the man arrived in position he sat in the driver's seat and pointed his gun at his wife's left temple.

 ** _Motherfuckers, she can't escape now! What should I do?! Shit!"_**

Outside was freezing cold. He would have trembled if he hadn't been so full of rage.

 ** _Such cold in April… this world is so shitty!_** He thought for a moment, then he was cast back to the tragic situation where he was the main protagonist.

"Put your hands behind you head, now!" Elvin barked and pointed his rifle towards him.

"ELVIN?! Why do you put me in a shitty situation like this when I've always helped you out?! Is this how you repay me for having helped your daughter not to wind up as worms' food?!" Joel was so pissed off and confused that he told himself that if it had been possible he would have killed him and that creepy daughter of his if he didn't venture to let him go.

"Indeed, Joel, indeed… forgive me, but first I'm a father and then I'm a friend!" Wright started the sentence a bit timorous and faltering, but he finished it with confidence. "Take the gun from your pants and throw it on the ground, now!" He commanded.

 ** _Piece of shit._**

He obeyed and in the following instant he saw a man walking towards him.

 ** _Wait, He's Seth Chine…_**

"The Collector." Joel said under his breath.

 ** _What is he doing here? Shit! We had to run away from him and his lackeys instead of going straight into them! Shit shit shit, think of something Jo! Use that little brain of yours to save them! Do it Jo, do it!_**

"Look who we have here, Joel Petrini! With his adorable wife Rain Truckoskij! Ah, I wonder why but I expected this, you know? I also know what has pushed you to attempt to escape: some people, precisely in Spruce Pine, are building a camp and they have supplies at choice!" Said Seth with a mocking laughter.

 ** _I don't understand. How did he know it? Has the rumors spread to him too, The Collector of the Blue Templars?_**

"I… wasn't running off… I just wanted to find new clients, you know… in order to rise the incomes of our bosses, Chine." Joel replied.

 ** _It doesn't have any sense, shit! I couldn't have said anything more stupid than this even if I tried to._**

"Your excuse doesn't hold together. You're pathetic, Joel! You perfectly know what kind of job I do, so you can imagine what it's about to happen shortly. However, before I can carry out my duties I want to explain the situation to you. You are the kind of person who knows how to accomplish your assignments. You can reach big goals with few resources. Neverthless, The Bosses were absolutely convinced that, now that your wife is pregnant, the urge to change your life was irresistible. They wanted to test you and, don't ask me who and how, because I don't possess any information of this kind, they made sure that someone put a bug on your jacket to ascertain your loyalty. They listened to every detail of your getaway plan and they sent me to collect your wife, or more precisely, what your wife carries in her womb. I don't think you understand how much the Tenth Street Reds pay for a baby to train! There are so few of them here, in Asheville. Healthy babes are a rarity, not for nothing they are called the flesh gold." Seth laughed. "Don't cry over it, your daughter will become a formidable assassin or she will die!"

"I don't understand… how do you know she is going to be a healty baby? And why do you sell children who could be useful to you?" Confusion assailed Joel. He wanted to play for time, in the attempt to come up with an idea that would put an end to that situation.

"It's simple, really. They have run some tests without your knowledge. The supplies they sell to the people, and the ones you sell too, contain small data collector which scans your body and all the pieces of information they measure are sent to the Cells, the high level scientists. Surprising, isn't it? Yes, people live in misery, but I assure you that the ones who rule have unending money and cutting-egde technology at their disposal. Regarding the children, well… you aren't aware of the Pact that keeps the peace between the Blue Templars and the Tenth Street Reds. It's a very boring reading, but the concept is very easy: The Templars must give a hundred healthy babies at the Reds every year and in exchange they give us a payment and, more importantly, they keep the White Roses away. Ah, The Bosses would have made an exception for you if you had been loyal."

Joel couldn't believe that the Templars could go that far. He was stunned, disconcerted and shattered by a revelation of that kind.

 ** _If I hadn't done this shitty thing, if we had stayed at home… FUCK, RAIN! What have we done?! We have sentenced ourselves to death! We have tried to run away as to promise our daughter a peaceful future, instead we have made her life horrible from the beginning… what have I done?! There's no escape for us now…_** He thought, caught by a deep desperation.

He knew he had no chance of surviving. He was a failed father.

 ** _Forgive me._**

A undisturbed tear fell on the ground.

"Kill him, then go and take the blankets from the luggage I had brought, collect the woman and bring her to me." Chine ordered at the two guards and went back to the control tower with a finger pressed to his ear.

Wright looked at Joel, he was holding his rifle with trembling hands.

"Hey, Elvin… think about it, please!" He almost begged him, but then he felt his blood boiling with fury. "Actually, do you know what? I have to tell you. Your daughter, Kath, that pile of bones and skin, I really hope she dies." He didn't care about what he was saying, he only wanted to hurt the one who had betrayed him.

A bang, and Joel was hit by a bullet in the chest, an atrocious pain, but the suffering he was feeling in his heart and in his soul was more painful. He fell, first to his knees, then to his back. He was bleeding too much. He saw Elvin and Seth turning away from him. The gun he had thrown earlier on the ground was so close now.

 ** _Joel, this is your last effort, then you'll have time to rest._** He thought, trying to convince himself.

He slowly crawled towards his gun, he grabbed it, and with a painful effort he managed to lift it from the ground. It felt so heavy. He pointed it at the man, who was once his friend, but for an instant his mind travelled in time and space, bringing him back in a moment dear to him.

 _"_ _Really, El, it's not necessary to give it to me…" Joel was feeling guilty for the gift he had just received from his friend._

 _"_ _No, I beg you to accept it, you see, I know it hasn't much value from the monetary point of view, but it's important to me, you see, this old watch is a family keepsake, and it's one of the dearest thing I own, and I wanted to give it to you to thank you for always helping me since we were young." Elvin squeezed Joel's hands and on the inside of them placed the old watch. In that moment Joel understood that the sparkle of light he saw in Elvin's eyes was a sentiment of friendship and gratitude both._

 _Joel hoped, one day, to feel happy and free of guilt. A part of him didn't want to take advantage from others anymore. He wanted to understand what friendship meant. "Thank you, I really appreciate it." He said and then stood up from the chair he was sitting on._

 _"_ _No, wait a second" Wright interrupted him, inviting him to stay where he was. "I want you to meet Kath. Yeah, I known you have already seen her, but you have never talked to her. I come back right away." He went to the adjacent room and when he returned he was holding his daughter by the hand._

 _Joel wasn't able to set the situation, he didn't understand why Elvin was doing it. Was he really interested in introducing his daughter to him? Or was there another reason? Maybe he was trying to make sure he would feel much more guilty in the future if he refused to sell him discounted supplies. He was feeling a dirty man to think such a thing, but he couldn't avoid it._

 _"_ _Here you are. Kath, say hi to Mr. Joel Petrini." Elvin encouraged his daughter to greet him properly, but she stood there, without moving a finger, watching the man in front of her with her big black eyes. However, after a moment, she reluctantly walked to him, squeezed his hand and said with a delicate and sweet voice: "Nice to meet you Joel Petrini, I am Kathrine Wright, I thank you for everything you do for us. I have watched you carefully and I believe that, even if you refuse to admit it, you are a good man."_

 _Joel lingered there, disconcerted by that statement, those black eyes… they really seemed to be able to scrutinize people's soul._

 ** _No. This is an absurdity._**

 _"_ _How old are you darling?" Joel tried to change the argument._

 _"_ _I'm 7, you are going to have daughter too, aren't you? I really hope to meet her after she is born" Kaith said happily._

 _"_ _Of course, why not, she'll need a friend! Excuse me, but now I have to go, I have other clients to meet. See you soon." Joel waved his hand in their direction and left._

That memory made him hesitate, he was lowering his gun when Seth saw him and made gesture to the other guard to shoot him.

Another hit to the chest.

"I love you" He tried to say directing his look towards the car where Rain was seated, but the words stopped in his throat. Now, his only resentment was to die without looking at his wife's eyes one last time and never be able to see his Rachel born. His sight clouded, his body was more and more light, and in that moment, at midnight of April 11th 2154, Joel Petrini ceased to exist.


	3. Awake?

**Chapter 3: Awake?**

 **Rain**

"JOEL! NO! JOEL!" Rain screamed with all the breath she had in her lungs. A river of tears ran down her cheeks. Her hicupps were more and more powerful.

 _She opened her eyes._

 ** _It was only a dream. I have to calm myself down._**

 _Above her head she saw an odd ceiling, which seemed to be made of a sort of metal; in any case it was a particular material that Rain had never seen before. She sat on the bed and scrutinized the sorrounding area._

 _In the room there was, beside the queen-size bed, a rather large night table and, on her left, a desk and a strange object on it. She went close to it and she understood it was a screen, holographic maybe. In order to test her hypothesis she passed her hand through it. Immediately her fingers and her palm went blue, colored by the light that came from the object. Moreover, in doing so, the white symbol on the screen became distorted. When she removed her hand, the figure got back to his original form. In that moment Rain was certain: it was a holographic screen._

 ** _Where am I? I must find Joel, that nightmare has frightened me too much._**

 _All of a sudden she heard a noise and she decided to hide near the bed. A woman entered the room. She wore a kind of uniform, but she couldn't recognise it. The woman's hair was very short and red, which was a bit darker than hers. Her eyes were of a beautiful emerald green; on her face, below her eyes and on her nose, there were a lot of freckles. Rain became perplexed when the woman turned her face to the other side, since she saw a large scar, beginning at her hairline, continuing through the border of her right eye and cutting her cheek in half as it finished on her nape._

 _The woman went close to a sort of microphone, which was located on the wall. "Talitha Draven, come to my quarters, now." Her voice was harsh and authoritative, but Rain managed to hear a touch of worry in it. A static voice answered, it could be heard coming from every point of the room. "Of course, commander."_

 ** _Who is this woman? What does she want from me?_** _She started to seriously worry._

 _As soon as Rain saw the redhead come close to her hiding spot she crouched down until she found herself lying down between the bed and the wall._

 _A step and then another one. The woman was already standing near the other side of the bed._

 ** _She is looking for me, wondering where I'm hidden._** _Her heart started to beat furiously in her chest._

 _A step, and another one again. The thud of her boots on the floor was more and more close._

 _The room door opened with a barely audible sound. Rain held her breath._

 _"_ _Private First Class Talitha Draven reporting for duty, ma'am." A feminine silvery voice filled up the silence._

 _The steps stopped and then they began to be more and more distant._

 ** _Thank God._** _Rain sighed._

 _"_ _Draven, make yourself comfortable." The mysterious woman pointed with her open hand towards the chair near the desk. "I noticed that your training proceeds very rapidly. You are a great soldier, but you have to work harder on the best way to channel your anger and your fears." Her tone was very placid. In some points almost reassuring._

 ** _Has she decided not to look for me anymore? Everything is so strange in here. And why the hell I'm in a room with soldier? Are they the Blue Templars? I don't think so… the uniforms don't match…_**

 _"_ _I reasurre you that I'm really working hard! And it's my intention to do my best not to disappoint you. Your advice has been really useful and I apply it daily!" She looked at her superior in the eyes. Suddently, her hands started to tremble slightly. "The things that those damn aliens did to me won't impede my life any further. I… don't want it to happen. May I ask you a question?"_

 _"_ _All the questions you need."_

 _"_ _Who did teach you how to carry on… after everything you have gone through?" Talitha searched in her eyes an immediate answered but the commander's look was vivid and intense; not veiled by that fog that can be found in people who had lived what the eyes should not witness and felt emotions that the heart is not able to bear._

 ** _Aliens? It can't be._** _The whole situation seemed too unreal to Rain. Nothing she was living had sense in that moment._

 ** _Wait, maybe these women can give me some answers and, besides, what chanches would I have to leave unscathed from a building full of soldiers? Moreover, if they laid me down on the bed, they are aware of my presence here and hiding is futile._**

 _"_ _No one teached me. A person dear to me made me see my life in a completely different prospective, but it was my doing to decide, as you said, to carry on, to accept everything my life had involved until then. Other people can only help, the remainder is up to you." Noticing Talitha's silence, the women further explained. "I understand you want to know my story, what had characterized my past, but now it would be useless. Each individual is different from another; each comparison between people with different experiences, although they could seem similiar, is…unecessary. As I said, you have to find your own way, the only thing I can do is to offer you opportunities."_

 _Rain rose from her hiding spot in a tentative way. Successively, she slowly approached the women and said with tight voice: "Excuse me, I…ehm, who are you?"_

 _"_ _I see commander, and how do you do with the nightmares?" The two women went on talking to each other, completely ignoring her._

 _She tried again. "I understand you have important matters to discuss, but… why am I here?"_

 _No answer. No one turned to her. No one made any gesture of hearing her, the two women didn't move a muscle._

 _"_ _I can show you a relaxation technique you should use before going to bed. However, nightmares hide in our subcounscious and I think it's impossibile to eliminate them in a definitive way. They are testing new drugs, but I advise against using them, if not in extreme cases." The commander continued to stay upright, hands behind her back, looking at her subordinate._

 _This time Rain stroded toward them. "Hey, answer me!" She placed her right hand on the redhead's shoulder. The commander turned at the touch and their eyes met for a moment. Nevertheless, the gaze of the outsider seemed distant, as if she didn't know where to look: her pupils were moving fast from one direction to another, trying to catch something, but it was clear that Rain didn't exist in them._

 ** _What…?!_**

 _"_ _Is something wrong commander?" Asked Talitha, preoccupied._

 _"_ _No, everything's fine. I've just had a strange feeling… that's all" She turned to look at the other woman and massaged the shoulder that Rain had touched._

 _Rain started to worriedly look around. She placed herself between the two troopers and opened the desk's drawers in order to find something that explained the situation, but there were only missions' reports._

 ** _There must be something! A small little thing… God!"_** _Her hands were all sweaty and she wondered how she managed not to soak the documents. After a few but intense seconds she found something that appeared to be useful: the documents of the personnel who work there; unknown faces of women and men followed in succession, until she uncovered the personal dossier of the woman who sat beside her._

 ** _"_** ** _Talitha Draven. Private First Class. Born in 2164 in Mindoir. Batarian slave until 2183."_** _Raven's eyes rapidly skimmed the page. "_ _ **She joined the Normandy crew upon request of commander Ellie R. Shepard. Within a few months Draven revealed enourmous physical and psicological progresses."**_

 ** _Normandy… crew? Where am I?!_** _Rain paled._

 _She was about to take up the files again, but she heard a strange voice that made her shivering. She suddently stopped._

"What the fuck is the problem?!" A man shouted at someone. Something was wrong with his voice.

"Her pulse is too fast and if it keeps going on like this in the next minutes it could compromise her or the child." An agitated doctor said.

"I don't care about the mother, do everything in you power so that the child lives!" The man with the cold voice replied.

Rain opened her eyes.

The artificial light was too intense; everything around her was a blinding white. She could hear people moving and touching her.

"She is awake. Her pulse is increasing!" Rain could hear the throbbing of her heart in her ears.

"Sedate her, now!" The cold man said in a stentorian voice.

"Today she has endured too many traumas, if we sedate her now she could die!" Someone replied.

"Sedate her, then bring me the child! Ah, one last thing…" the man approached her. "I've heard you wanted to name her Rachel. This will be the only thing you'll decide about her." He whispered in her ear and then disappeared from her sight.

"Wait…" Rain said in an barely perceptible voice, but the man was gone and something had been injected in her veins. Her senses were dulled once again and she slowly returned to the Other World.

 _She opened her eyes._

 _In front of her there were control panels and various commands. She hypothesized to be seated in an advanced vehicle, a military one, perharps. She turned her head and what she saw left her stunned: a giant anthropomorphic lizard was lying down on the adjacent seat and it was emitting odd calls in a constant and repetitive way. It's eyes were closed._

 ** _What kind of moster is that?!_** _She tried to move but her body stopped her. Fear was running in her veins._

 ** _Is it sleeping? How do I get out of here?!_** _The claustrophobia was taking control over her; she was feeling a sensation of oppression that was pushing her down. She looked around and after a few minutes she noticed that a little behind her, above, there was a kind of valve._

 ** _Maybe that's a way out._** _She took some courage and moved carefully, trying not to wake the big creature; she placed her hands on the valve and turned it slowly in order not to make too much noise. A thud. Rain lingered there, motionless. The monster stopped snoring, it turned around on the seat and fell asleep in a more noisy way than before. Rain got out and she found herself at the top of the vehicle, which was white and armoured from the outside; an unusual form characterized it. She was in a huge room. It appeared to be a ship the sides, close to the walls, there were large counters and above them various kinds of weapons were laying down. Around the vehicle, which was located at the center of the room, there were different rubber mats and exercise mats. Near one of the counters she saw two women talking to each other; one of them was the misterious woman._

 ** _It's her again._** _She realised._ _ **The commander! Maybe she'll give me some answers… I hope she could see me this time.**_

 _She climbed down the vehicle and strode towards them. She wanted to clarify this situation._

 _"_ _So, have you got any brothers or sisters, commander?" The brunette asked; her hands were laying on the counter behind her back which in turn supported part of her body._

 _Rain walked towards them and placed herself beside them. They didn't give any sign of seeing her, just like before: Maybe if she managed to hear the ongoing conversation she could understand what was going on._

 _"_ _No, Williams, I haven't got any and it's for the best, taking into consideration my growing-up conditions." The redhead answered in a way that didn't let any emotions emerge._

 _"_ _I've heard that you were in a sort of terrestrial gang, weren't you, commander?" Williams gripped hardly the table with her hands as she saw the look of her superior darken._

 ** _A terrestrial gang?! Does it mean that there's criminality in other worlds? How is it possible? The colonization began just a few years ago, unless… no! This is not possible!_** _Denying was so easy._

 _"_ _That's right, the Tenth Street Reds. They raised me, trained me and made me a perfect killer. I slaughtered a lot of people in cold blood and without a second thought."_

 _Ashley scrutinized the soldier in front of her, trying to interpret her body language, but her eyes communicated everything and nothing at the same time. In the meanwhile, the comander noticed Williams' discouragement and she added: "Williams, keep in mind that not all evil comes to harm! If I hadn't spent every and each day fighting for my survival, I would not be the person I am today."_

 ** _Tenth Street Reds… so she grew up in Asheville!_**

 _"_ _And what kind of woman are you now?" Ashley removed her hands from the table and stood in a more upright position, looking her superior in the eyes._

 ** _What does connect me with this woman, except for the fact that she lived in Asheville? Think Rain! Wait, I read that her name was… Shepard… Ellie! But something eludes me… she has a second name._** _She tried to visualize Tabitha's dossier in order to remember the commander's full name._ _ **I got it! Ellie R. Shepard! R.? What does it stand for? Renèe? Rachel? Rachel.**_ _Knowing that name allowed Rain to connect all the missing pieces and suddently she remembered and understood everything: the blonde man, Joel's death, and the daughter she had never seen coming into the world. She started to tremble furiously. Her eyes were filled with tears. Inside of her there was an unending sorrow, impossible to delete. Now sadness was the only thing that characterized the woman she was, but what was her? Dead or alive? At this point it didn't matter anymore._

 ** _My god… what have they done to you?! I'm so sorry…_** _Rain started to weep._

 _"_ _What kind of woman I am?" The question caught Rachel unprepared. "I don't know if defining myself it's a task of mine… I have been and I will be a million different things, I am a sketch of a person who will be, I'm a form in an incessant evolution that is shaped in obedience to circumstances and time." She noticed the confused look of the woman in front of her. " If you want a more concrete answer I… well, I am a soldier who's trying to save those few good things that exist in the world, in the universe…"_

 _"_ _Wow commander, you like to philosophize!" Williams laughed, but after a moment she returned serious. "I'm still thinking about what you said before… that not all evil comes to harm… I am trying to find a logical motivation, a meaning for the death of my comrades in arms… I mean, they have been killed by machines… by sentient machines which wouldn't exist if it hand't been for those alien bastards! Those Quarians created them!" Sentenced the soldier while she was clenching her fists, her body became more stiffer, her face pointed towards the floor in order not to show the tears that got her eyes wet._

 _"_ _Don't misunderstand me Williams, I don't justify the death of innocent people, I don't justify it neither by others nor by my hands. But it happened, nothing can be changed, you can't save who's dead. The only thing you can do is to accept it, deduce some teachings from it, and channel your rage against the bad people! Get yourself dirty with blood, unload yourself, seek revenge, but do it rationally, and in this case, Quarians have nothing to do with your friends' death." The commander stopped speaking for a moment. "I've killed a lot of innocent people Ashley and I don't have any justification about it. Now I think I am on the right side, but if one day a person, who loved someone I killed, smashes my skull with a club, I can't blame him… however I have a mission to accomplish, and if everything goes as expected, I will have saved more people that those I sentenced to death."_

 _Williams lingered there, baffled by so much frankness. "Commander, I have known you for a short time, but I can say with certainty that your past doesn't define you. What you did on Eden Prime shows that you are ready to sacrifice your life for your crew and an assassin would never do it." The soldier found the best words to express her gratitude towards the woman who had fought by her side in a moment of extreme despair._

 _Rachel studied her carefully "That's all for now, Ashley. I have to go." She said it in a tone that Rain couldn't interpete._

 _"_ _Aye Aye!"_

 _Rain followed her daughter in the elevator._

 ** _My God… what have they done to you?! I'm so sorry…_** _New tears decended on her face. Her daughter was beside her. She reached out and stroked her left cheek, tracing her scar with her thumb. The commander looked at her, but it wasn't the same gaze as before, it seemed she could really see her. Rachel's green eyes were shining although the feeble elevator's light. She placed a hand above her mother's. Rain felt it, skin against skin._

 _Rain understood this was the best moment of her life, she was certain she will never forgot it. She understood that life and death were meaningless words._

 _A phrase she had heard in a song by the Carbon Based Lifeform came into her mind: We will die and drift back to the otherside as gracefully as a wave recedes back into the ocean._

 _Dead or alive, it didn't matter._

For her.


	4. Welcome to the family

**Chapter 4 = Welcome to the family**

The man put his arm before his face: a mediocre protection against the wind that was hitting him on the only exposed body part. He held a small incubator with the other limb, in order to keep his new travel companion warm and nourished.

A blue car stopped beside him. He opened the door and sat on the passenger seat. He put the incubator on his legs and he could feel a pleasant heat puoring out of it.

"Good morning Mister Chine. Destination?" The driver asked courteously. He was a man on his fifties but he appeared to be much older, probably it was due to his white beard and his yellowish skin.

"Red By." Seth answered, scrutinizing the horizon in front of him.

The other man nodded and put his foot on the gas pedal. "Is he healthy?" He asked him without removing his eyes from the road.

"Yeah. And it's a girl." Chine placed a hand on the incubator and looked carefully at the man beside him.

"A healthy baby girl! She'll be worth more than a hundred rations! How much do you sell her for? To the Reds, I mean." The old man eagerly licked his lips and caressed his beard. He jumped when he felt cold metal pressing againt his temple.

"Do you know how much I'd sell you for? Four rations, maybe less. After all, they wouldn't even accept the trade. What would they do with an old and sick man? Drive and don't play jokes on me. I have no intention of driving in a car with chunks of brain all over it." The blonde man pulled back the hammer of the gun as to get him to understand the concept.

"There's absolutely no need!" The old man was so nervous that he dripped sweat.

"Perfect." Seth pulled the arm back until he was in a more comfortable position. He had now the side of the gun beside his chest and the barrel pointed towards the driver.

* * *

"We have reached our destination, Mister Chine." The old man told his passenger, trying to hide a sigh of relief.

"Get out and escort me to the door." Ordered Seth, while he was opening the car's door with his free hand.

The driver followed the orders without breathing a single word and both of them set foot on the Reds' ground.

The blonde man fixed his outfit up a little, pointed again the gun towards the other man and made him a gesture to proceed. As soon as they were a few steps away from the large building's door, Seth put the gun back into the holster. "What's your name, old man?"

"John Artgham." He answered, hesitant.

"John, what is the only rule a Blue driver has to follow?" Chine interrogated him, annoyed.

The man looked worriedly at him. "Don't ask question. But I've never…"

Chine interrupted him. "You have never seen a healthy baby because it's the first time you drive someone to the Red By, right?"

"Yeah, that's why! Forgive me for my questions… I know I've broken the rule, but I'm not used to be so close… to one of them!" The old man finished the sentence whispering, as if he was referring to some mysterious entity.

"Don't worry…" Seth placed the incubator down for a while "…I understand. Here's you payment." He started to rummage in the left pocket of his jacket.

John's eyes stared at the pocket, curious of its content. Obviously, in that small pocket there couldn't be some rations. He was quite certain that there was cash in it, which was an odd payment for a task so simple. Then, his eyes moved over the incubator. In that moment it would have been easier to take.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't notice that Seth, with his other hand, had pulled out a knife from a small scabbard in his pants. A sharp pain started from below his chin and spread in every nerve of his face. He gripped the knife trying to take it out, but his hands were heavy and from his mouth blood gushed without interruption. After some short and quick compulsive movements of his body's muscles, he fell dead to the ground.

"They should have checked you more thoroughly." Said Seth, while he was cleaning his knife and looking at the corpse. Successively, he took the incubator and opened the building's door.

Chine found himself in a large and long atrium with a huge desk in the middle of it. Behind the desk there was a woman in a red jacket and with a red tie. On the sides of the atrium there were two raised floors and above them could be seen turrets and armed men.

"Mister Chine, welcome to the Red By! Come!" Said the woman behind the desk.

Seth approached her and placed the incubator on the desk. "Rachel Petrini." He announced.

"Good job. You'll bring the next children to us now that your colleague Peter Crimble is deceased." The woman gazed upon him with a gentle smile on her lips.

Seth nodded.

"Very well, Mister Chine." She pressed a botton on the desk a spoke towards the intercom. "Bring me a Nurturer." She looked again at the man in front of her. "You can go, we'll await for your return."

Seth was walking in the direction of the exit when a noise caught his attention. He turned his head and saw a woman entering from a huge red door, located in the opposite part of the room. She was totally covered in a white tunic and upon her face she wore a red mask of porcellain. The Nurturer approached the desk, took the incubator and returned back to where she was before.


	5. The outside world

**Chapter 5 = The outside world.**

 _Women with red porcellain masks surrounded all of us; only their eyes were visible._

 _The children who tried to lure their attention, pulling their white robes, were rewarded with more indifference._

 _They fed us, taught us the rudiments of the world and the doctrine and they put us to bed. These were their assignments and they carried them out scrupulously._

 _They were the servants of Our Mother, of whom allowed the birth of all of us._

 _I only have confusing memories of that time, but I remember the day of my seventh birthday because for the first time I set foot on the ground outside the Red By; For the first time I saw the sky._

Hundred of children, wearing red, were looking with genuine astonishment at the light blue dome that stood above them.

"Rachel, look! It's like in films! That foam that flies in the sky is so white!" A blonde little girl was pointing her scrawny finger at the sky above her. Then, glanced at her friend beside her.

"It's a shroud! No, wait…" The other girl looked intensely at the white foam, awaiting for it to confirm her hypothesis. But the answer came from her mate.

"Yes yes! I remember it too! It's a shroud! Rachy, do you want to sit next me on the bus?" She asked her, while she was pulling her red t-shirt.

"Of course Dana! Do you know where we're headed?" Rachel asked a bit worried.

"Haven't you payed attention to what the Nurturers of Our Mother said?" Dana was astounded by the question, but she was happy to provide clarifications to her only friend. "We are going to the Red Hil. We move there! It's a house and a school for grown-up children, like us!"

"In line!" A woman ordered, she was wearing a red jacket and a red tie.

Rachel was disconcerted when she set eyes on the woman. She had never before seen the face of an adult. She stared at her, shocked. She noticed that her face was more thin than that of a child and her features were more pronounced.

The children positioned themselves one behind the other, looking at each other and waiting for new instructions.

"Rachel, don't stare! Have you understood who she is? She's a Guardian!" Dana scolded her from behind.

"A guardian…" Where has she heard that word before?

"So it's true that you never listen to the Nurturers! The Guardians don't wear masks and they usually wear a red jacket and a red tie! There are different kinds of Guardians and they all do different things! The Nurturers told us that she is Guardian Dannes!" The blonde one explained to her, trying to speak quietly, in order not to draw the woman's attention.

Dannes took a look at the watch she was wearing on her wrist. "30 seconds and the bus arrives. It will take you to the Red Hild. For as long as you'll be on board don't chat and obey to Guardian Flouret, is it clear?" She smiled.

Rachel was wondering if even the Nurturers, behind their masks, had ever smiled, but she excluded this possibility because the act of smiling entail a cordial and cheerful voice which she's never heard before.

Besides, a sound so radiant would have lighten up that somber sensation she had felt in her childhood.

"Yes, Guardian Dannes!" The children answered in unison, placing their right hands on their left shoulders

 **Rachel**

During the trip the children were silent as ordered and they were all watching outside the windows as if they were hypnotised. Although it was morning, no living soul could be seen by the streets.

 ** _"_** ** _I hope to meet other smiling people…"_** Rachel sighed.

The bus halted in front of a big metallic gate, beyond it a huge open space in tarmac could be seen.

"Children, we've arrived! Get out and halt before the gate." Guardian Flouret said gently.

After few minutes, Rachel was in front of the gate with her mates. A man, wearing a red shirt with a sort of square pattern on it, placed himself before them and the Guardian approached him. She was holding in her hand a sheet of paper which was written on both sides.

 ** _"_** ** _That's a male adult!"_** Surprise came over her. " ** _Why has he hairs on his face?"_** She was wondering while she was staring at the man.

Guardian Flouret began to speak: "Well, he's Secretary Thompson. When he'll call you by your names he'll give you a paper sheet and the number of your dormitory room will be written on it. Then, you'll pass the gate and go to the building on your right. Once you'll enter the building, you'll find, behind the desk in the middle of the room, Guardian Annabelle Joy. She will be your boss during your stay at Red Hild. Goodbye children!" She placed her right hand on her left shoulder.

"Goodbye Guardian Flouret!" The children repeated the gesture.

As soon as the woman got on the bus, the Secretary coughed and began to call names.

The children waited their turn worriedly.

"Hey, Rachy, I hope they'll put us in the same room! Cross your fingers!" Dana whispered to her.

Rachel nodded and crossed her fingers. " ** _I hope so…"_**

"Dana Tickens!" Dana looked at her friend, who encouraged her with a reassuring nod.

"Room 5!" Thompson stated and gave her a paper sheet.

Dana walked to him, took the piece of paper, got pass the gate, crossed the open space and turned to the right. Rachel followed her with her eyes until she disappeared from her view.

The Secretary called names and names and the children got pass the gate one by one. Rachel looked around, everyone had gone and she was alone with the Secretary.

"Well… you should be Rachel Petrini!" The secretary exclaimed with a slight smile, melancholy in his eyes.

Rachel nodded and walked to him.

"Room 8!" He told her and gave her the scrap of paper.

 ** _I'm not with Diana…_** She thought sadly.

Rachel was about to move from Thompson when, suddently, he delicately grabbed her arm. "Rachel, you're the last of your group so I take the chance to give you a piece of advice: do not grow fond of your mates and obey the orders they give you without thinking twice about them, here life's hard! Remember my words, ok?" He was clearly agitated and he was staring at the child as if he was seeking a sort of approval from her.

Rachel was looking at him in the eyes, which screamed fear and horror, but she didn't nodded and she didn't even make a gesture of understanding. She was too frightened to react.

The man, noticing the child's discouragement, let her arm go and he allowed her to pass the gate.

 ** _Why has he told me those things…?_** Rachel wondered, quivering with fear while she was walking to the Red Hild. Then, she found herself in front of a large wooden red door, she opened it slowly and she closed it at she same way. The hall was very spacious, the walls were of a pure white. In the middle of the room there was a desk and, behind it, a woman in a red jacket and a red tie sat on a chair. Her hair was raven-black, which she wore in a chignon. Her eyes were of an intense grey, hypnotic.

 ** _She must be Guardian Annabelle Joy…_** The child placed her right hand on her left shoulder in a greeting gesture. Lady Joy made her a sign to proceed. The expression on her face was so stoic and stern that Rachel had the feeling that from that moment onwards she won't see any hint of a smile.

"Name?" The Guardian asked, her voice harsh and bored at the same time.

"Rachel Petrini!" The child answered agitated and she hesitantly shown her the piece of paper that had been given to her.

"Good, room 8. Second floor. The stairs are on your right." Rachel turned her head and saw the stairs. They were hidden behind a short wall, that's why she hasn't noticed them before. She moved from the desk, walked upstairs and she found herself in a long corridor which was completely painted in red: walls, ceiling and floor were blood red. Was it the colour of her future in that place? She placed her hand on the handle of the second door. Her heart was pounding heavily on her chest. Her eyes were alert. Then, she decided to open it.


	6. The room

**Chapter 6 = The room.**

She stood on the threshold of a small room. Noticing nothing frightening, she calmed down and looked at her surroundings. On the sides there were three bunk beds, which were perfectly clean and tidy; in the centre stood a tiny and unstable camp bed, but the blanket covering it didn't have even the slightest crease. The walls were painted in a dazzling white, which contrasted heavily with the red corridor she has seen a moment before.

There was no one in the room but a boy sitting on one of the bunk beds. He was staring at her, saying nothing. Rachel looked around for a bed which didn't have a bag on it, but there was none, even the camp bed seemed occupied.

"Is that bag yours?" She asked the boy, gazing at him and pointing with her finger at the bag beside him.

The child opened his eyes wide. He was completely confused. Then, he quickly turned his head and peeped at the bag that the girl was pointing. When he finally realised he got up as if he was caught in a sudden spasm. "I… I haven't noticed it!" He told her, he was clearly agitated. "Are you seven years old?" He asked, carefully approaching her.

"Yeah, I've never seen you at the Red By… what's your name?" She inquired gently and with a slight grin. She was thinking at the Guardians Dannes and Flouret and how their smiles instilled in her a pleasant sensation. She wanted to try to do the same with the upset boy in front of her.

The child began to relax. "Jack. And you?"

"Rachel!" She answered with a smile far more radiant than before, but as soon as she glanced around she returned serious.

 ** _Why are the beds occupied? Where are we going to sleep?_** She wondered, worried. She was about to ask her new friend those questions, but suddently the door behind her opened and two girls entered the room. They briefly turned their eyes upon her: their looks were dull and their eyes were red, probably due to previous tears. Thereafter, they sat on the bunk bed that Jack had used earlier. They mechanically peeled off their red tracksuits and they put on more comfortable clothes of the same colour.

In the meanwhile, Rachel and Jack observed them in a confused and concerned way. The silence in the dormitory was starting to become oppressive.

"Who are you?" Rachel asked, trying to stay calm.

One of the girls gave her a quick glance, before laying on the bed and saying nothing, while the other one began to silently stare at her. Noticing their reaction Jack started to feel anxious, so he delicately grabbed his friend's hand and whispered in her ear. "They're weird! Why don't they answer?

Rachel took Jack's hand and when she found enough courage she decided to make another attempt to talk with them. "My name is Rachel, and he's Jack, we are seven-year-old, and you?"

Silence.

 ** _What's wrong with them?_**

The girl, who was lying down on the upper bed, lifted up her head, sat down and jumped on the floor. In a matter of seconds she made two big steps in Rachel's direction until her face was few inches from hers. "We don't care about your names, don't talk to us, don't chat with each other and above all don't hold hands." Declared the girl, whose face was red with anger. "If you're asking yourself where you'll sleep, the answer is on the floor! When the older children return, do not ask them any questions and do not cross their gazes!" After suggesting this, she went back to bed.

Rachel was stunned, no one has ever talked to her that way. She was still holding Jack's hand, which was trembling furiously. She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that her friend's cheeks were wet. She let go of his hand and hugged him. **_They can't treat me like that! We won't sleep on the floor!_**

A wave of anger overwhelmed her, she tighten her fists so strongly that she could feel her nails scratching her palms. Subsequently, she approached with determined strides the girl on the upper bed. "Do you think that we'll sleep on the ground only because we're smaller than you? This is not going to happen!" She stated, angry.

This time the answer didn't wait to arrive.

"All the new students have to sleep on the floor for a year, until other children arrive! Don't you like it? You'll be beaten by us or by the olders! Count the beds, genious! It wasn't us that put them there! It's the Red Hild and the Red Hild works this way." This time the girl stayed on the bed, but the force of her words was the same as the earlier confrontation. "I'm helping you by saying this, the others are far worse than me." She said this final sentence whispering and looking around briefly.

Rachel wanted to retort but she felt Jack pulling her by the shirt."I don't think they're lying… I'm sure the Guardians know there aren't enough bed…" She told her under his breath.

She decided to believe her, for now. Then, she gestured Jack to follow her and together they sat in an empty corner in front of the two girls. They didn't talk for hours so Jack fell asleep beside her, cradled by her silence. In the meanwhile, in Rachel's head thoughts began to wander and many of them were directed to Dana.

Slumber arrived at last, though Rachel entered in a spiral of confused dreams.

* * *

The heavy thud of a shutting door woke Rachel in the middle of the night.

She lifter her head a bit, then she froze. All around was pitch black.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP NEWCOMERS! IT'S TIME TO BE BRANDED!" Shouted a boyish voice near her.

She stood up. She was shaken up. Her heart was piercing her chest. She touched the wall behind her and then cornered herself against it.

"Rachel!" Jack called her with a feeble and broken voice.

Suddently, a stream of light circled her head. She tried to cover her eyes with her forearm. The room was so silent she could only hear her breath and Jack's hiccups.

When the light diminished a face took form and then an entire figure. A slim child was scrutinizing her. He was clearly older than her but she couldn't understand how much.

"Well well, here we've got a little red-haired Red" Welcome to the eighth room ! I'm Michail Weyn and I'm your leader. Give me you arm!" Michail ordered her.

She nervously looked at him. "What do you want to do!?" Her voice was shaking in the silence.

A slap hit her face and the boy took her arm. She felt her skin being cut under a blade that wouldn't stop. She started to cry out loud for the pain. Another slap.

"People can't scream in the Red Hild!" He scolded her, chanting. It seemed he was having fun.

Weyn stopped cutting her, took a pace back and pulled out some bendages from his pocket. "Press them on your wound. You are officially a member of this room." He said that sentence so automatically that he didn't appear to be the same person as before.

Her arm hurt like hell, her eyes were flooded with tears. She wrapped the bendages on the wounded part and they became soaked in blood. She pressed as strongly as she could, while she was watching Michail doing the same treatment to Jack.

 ** _NO!_**

Even if Jack was whining, he gave his arm to the leader without opposing resistance. However, an instant before the blade could touch his skin, Rachel jumped and shouldered Michail, throwing him to the ground.

Soon the room was filled with scared and startled whispers. They came from every corner of the room. The torch that Weyn was using fell to the ground and rolled to the other side of the bunk, lighting only the head of the girl. Blinded, she bit the first portion of the assailant's flesh she found: his right hand. The boy began to thrash about and managed to distance her and throw her a punch in the head. Rachel collapsed on him, falling uncounscious.


	7. The woman of the rain

**Chapter 7 = The woman of the rain.**

 _She felt an hand gently caressing her hair. A pleasant sensation washed over her. She had never before sensed anything like that._

 _Then, a woman whispered to her: "Rachel, wake up."_

 _Her voice was so delicate, her notes so sweet that she could almost hear the slight vibrations in her ear._

 _"_ _Darling, wake up!" Said the woman with a decisive tone and stopped stroking her hair._

 _Rachel slowly opened her eyelids and in front of her she saw a pair of big grey eyes. Everything else was blurry._

 _After she blinked her eyes the figure before her became a clear form, and her visage was defined in features._

 _The woman, apart from those grey and radiant eyes, had long and curly red hair, which enclosed her freckled face; A hooked nose was connected with her full lips by some slight lines._

 _"_ _Good morning Rachel!" She told her, smiling. "You shouldn't sleep on the floor, you'll hurt your back!" She softly scolded her, suppressing a small laugh._

 _Everything that characterized that woman made her feel safe, protected: her gestures, her facial expression and even the timbre of her voice._

 _"_ _Who are you? A Guardian?" As soon as that thought brushed against her mind she sprang up to her feet and she put her right hand on her left shoulder. The bubble of serenity that was sorrounding her blew up._

 _"_ _I'm not a... guardian? That's me, Rain! What's going on?" The woman lovingly took the child's hand between hers._

 _Rachel observed their joined hands with an uncertain look on her face. "Rain? I'm sorry but I don't know you."_

 _A flash blinded her and she tried to cover her eyes with her arm._

 _Then, she heard the rumble of a thunder all around her. But her eyes were still closed. She felt drops falling on her nose. She moved away her arm and opened her eyes. Before her the stranger could not be seen. As soon as she attempted to dry her nose, she noticed that some blood was dripping from her wrist._

 _She started panicking. Her breath was short and her heart heavy like a hammer. She turned her back, searching for the woman. She wanted solace and assistance. "Rain!"_

 _Suddently the woman appeared in front of her. She was keeping her head lowered and her face was covered by her hair. A thick rain began puoring down and when she felt it she lifted her visage and angrily turned her eyes upon Rachel. Everything about her had irremediabily changed._

 _The scared child backed up, but the stranger rapidly caught up with her. Rachel fell to the ground. The woman stopped, kneeled down, closed in on her and whispered in her ear: "How can you not recognize me? That's me! Rain! Rain, Rain, Rain…" She repeated her name like a mantra, then she shouted: "Wake up Rachel! Wake up!"_

Rachel screamed and opened her eyes.

"Everything is ok. It's over now! Calm down, please." Rachel saw Jack's sweet face and looked around: she was in the room. Her head was spinning uncontrollably. However, she could take a breath of relief. Then, she placed her hand over her head as if she wanted to stop it.

"Where are everybody?" She asked him once she realized they were alone. "Where's… where's Michail?" she clenched her fists as soon as his name popped up in her mind, but at that movement she felt her right wrist hurting. She raised it and noticed the bendages all around it.

"I have them too… Look." Jack told her, showing his bendaged wrist. His voice was cracked by sadness. "It hurts so much…" He added, looking at the floor.

The unanswered question raised annoyance in the little girl, but she quickly understood the disconfort his friend was experiencing and so she moved closed and embraced him.

"Hey, it's alright…" She tried to console him while she was rubbing his back. "It is your doing? The bendages, I mean…" She asked and pulled back from his arms.

Jack glanced at her. "No. Michail put them…" He revealed and tried to predict her reaction.

Rachel, after a moment of bewilderment, shouted in shock: "What?! Why?!"

Jack backed up a bit. "I… I don't know… I think he's crazy… soon after he gave you that punch he took some bendages and treated you. He did the same to me…" Jack confessed to her.

Rachel snorted. She had already learnt a new thing about herself: she hated not understanding. "Well… where are the others?" She hoped to receive an answer this time.

"They left a while ago. They said they'd go to the canteen and have breakfast… I should have gone too but I preferred waiting for you to wake up." He said, smiling.

 ** _Has he smiled? That's the first time…_** She threw him a curious look.

"What is it?" Wondered Jack, upset.

"Yesterday you were so sad! It's good seeing you smile." She admitted. "Maybe it's the thought of breakfast that makes you happy!" She managed to get a laugh out of him. "Come on, Let's go to the canteen and eat!"

Jack nodded happily and they stood up, went towards the door and left the room.

Rachel found herself again in that blood red corridor, which induced her to look at her wrist.

 **I begin to understand why it has that colour…**

Successively, they discended the stairs to the main hall. They studied it thoroughly, searching for any hint to the location of the canteen, but they didn't find any.

"Perharps we should ask to Guardian Annabelle Joy…" Jack advised her, speaking softly.

Rachel took a gander at the desk were the Guardian was sitting. She could see her in profile. She inhaled deeply and strode towards her.

 ** _Don't panic, Rachel… don't panic…_** She turned her eyes and noticed that her friend stayed behind, near the stairs.

 ** _Jack, you can't leave me alone with her…_** Although she had those thoughts, she kept walking.

Once she was in front of the Guardian, she instinctively hid her bendaged wrist behind her back and put her right hand on her left shoulder.

"Good morning Guardian Annabelle Joy, forgive me if I bother you, but… I'd like to know where the canteen is." The woman slightly raised her head from the paper upon which she was writing, and looked at her without saying a word. Rachel began to sweat from anxiety, but she tried to remain calm.

"I'm not a tourist guide. The only directions I give you are the one concerning the location of your room on your first day. However, for this time I'll close an eye, but do not repeat such an error, do you understand?"

"Yes, Guardian Annabelle Joy!" The child said in a resolute tone.

 ** _I knew It was a terrible idea…_**

"The canteen is located behind the red door at the end of the hall." She told her and then took up her work.

Rachel thanked her and took her leave as she was used to. She returned to Jack, drying her sweating hands on her pants.

"What has she told you?"

"It's behind the red door at the end of the hall but… we can't ask the Guardian these things…" She exhaled and headed to the canteen.

"Why not?" Jack remained still and looked and her with a confused look.

"She told me so…" After a moment she added: "My hands are all sweaty, wanna touch?" She suggested, grinning and threatening to touch him.

The kid laughed and backed away, disgusted "Not in a thousand years!" and they resumed their walk.

"Why did you make me go there alone?"

"Forgive me…" Jack was deeply sorry. It was visible in his eyes. "She scares me to death! And why have you hidden your wrist?"

"Because she scares me too… even more than Michail…" She slid her finger across the bendages and then rubbed the part of her head that was hurting. She suppressed a hiss of pain.

"Does it hurt much?" Jack looked at her, worried sick.

"Yeah, but less than before… here we are!" They arrived at the red door. Rachel put her hand on the handle, lowered it and pushed a bit, opening the door.

The canteen was teeming with children of different ages. There were six long tables and two spacious hallways.

 ** _It's so big!_** The child had never before been in a room filled with so many people. Everybody had already sat at the tables, focused on eating until they heard the door opening and noticed the two stragglers.

Hundreds of children began staring at them.

"Is it a good sign?" Jack asked quietly.

"I don't know… you know, maybe… I'm not so hungry…" Rachel glanced at them, intimidated. She was about to weigh out the pros and the cons when her stomach started to growl.

 ** _Hmm… ok, I was kidding._** She thought, placing her hand on her belly.

"Rachel!" Exclaimed Dana, running towards her to hug her tightly.

"Dana!" Rachel squeezed her in turn. "I'm so happy to see you…" She noticed that the other kids weren't staring any longer.

They distanced themselves from each others and in that moment the redhead realized that her friend was crying. "What's wrong?" She was about to take her left hand in order to seek some kind of contact when she saw that her wrist was bendaged. "Dana! Is Michail responsible for this?!" Although her tone was aggressive, she was deeply worried.

Dana took Rachel's hand in hers. "You have it too…" An oddly _vacant look_ came over her features. "Michail?! I… his name was… Carl maybe, I don't know… however they've done it to every seven-year-old child…"

"What?!" The two of the eighth room snapped. "Why?"

"I don't know… come to the table… but first you have to eat, you're so pale!" Dana let go of her friend's hand and headed to her table, trembling a little.

Rachel watched her walk away. She had never saw Dana like that: in a day she had lost all her carefreeness. **_I… I have to make her happy again!_**

"Are we going, Rachel?" Jack asked, moving his head towards the food-filled counter.

The girl nodded and they traversed one of the hallways, which was located on the left side of the room.

"Who was she? She talked in a weird way, as if she didn't have any energies left!" Jack turned his eyes to Dana, who was sitting at the table nearby the red door.

"She's Dana, my first friend. We've known each other since forever… she was so happy yesterday…" said Rachel, sadly.

"It's for the wrist cut! I'm sad for it too… and I fear they do it again tonight!" The boy nervously rubbed his elbow.

"I'm scared too… they're too big and strong for us…" They arrived at the counter and they both took a dish full of food and headed back to Diana.

 ** _It stinks just like the food in the Red By…_** She thought, smelling her breakfast. After that, the girl looked at her friend as if she just had a brainwave. "We should tell the Guardian everything! She scares me but… if they'd cut everybody's wrists we… she has to do something about it! What do you think?"

Jack, in that moment, had the same look on his face. "That's right! It's their duty to protect us, isn't it?"

Rachel smiled, hopeful. "Yes! Let's tell it to Diana!"

Dana was holding her head with her hand and playing with her food when her two mates arrived. Rachel sat next to her. "Hey! We got an idea! We have to tell Annabelle Joy everything! She'll help us and punish the ones who cut us! At least she has to…"

The blonde one raised her head and glanced briefly at her. "A girl has already done that…" Then she continued to poke her food around.

The redhead tried to study her, confused. "… And? What did she say?"

Dana sighed. "She told her that their duty is to teach us things and that's it, the rest is up to us." Rachel look at her, baffled, then Dana put her hand over hers and squeezed. "I'm so scared Rachy… I'm alone in my room… nobody talks to me."

Jack, who was sitting in front of them, stopped eating. His hands were nervously shaking.

Suddenly the red door opened. The Guardian and the Secretary entered the room. They were both wearing a sort of microphone near their mouths. Thompson was the first to start talking: "Boys and girls, before the annual speech of the Guardian, we must pray and honor the Red Mother."

The three friends all traded soulful looks before placing their right hands on their left shoulders. They began reciting the Sacred Word of the Red Mother: "From your blood we are born, you gave us life, Red Mother. Beneath your guidance we live, you show us the way, Red Mother. Thanks to your teachings we know the truth that we'll guard in our hearts, so that the Tenth Street Reds could thrive and preserve your knowledge. In your name. Haima Synaptein Gnosis."

Subsequently, Annabelle Joy spoke: "Children, the Red Mother gave birth to the Tenth Street Reds and her cult is the only one worth following. The older students already know these facts, so I'm addressing the newcomers, which are born in the year 2154: every day, after breakfast, you'll take the class of Doctrine and Order, where you'll learn everything about the Red Mother and the Reds; besides, during the year, you'll attend the following courses: Fight, Weapons, Science, and Tech. The courses will last three years. After that, you'll give an exam and your results will be placed in a league table. The ones at the bottom of the list, will be expelled: not only from the Red By but from every centre of the Tenth Street Reds. That concludes my speech. I wish all of you a pleasant stay."

"Expelled?!" Dana gave Rachel a concerned look, who was pale and didn't manage to look away.

"No, it's not possible..." Muttered Jack.

*Words in greek: Haima = blood Synaptein = synapse gnosis = conscience


	8. Doctrine and law

**Chapter 8 = Doctrine and Law.**

Rachel still hadn't finished her meal when suddently a bell began to ring.

"What's this sound?" Asked Jack, looking around, frightened.

The girl brought her hands over her ears, trying to deaden that irritating noise. "… just when my headache was about to go away." Sighed.

Meanwhile Dana noticed a detail that was slipping away from the others: "Hey, look! The Guardian left while the Secretary opened the red door!" She was the only one who saw that and, for this reason, she felt important.

Jack and Rachel peered toward the entrance and set eyes on Thompson, who was adjusting his mic near his mouth; then he started speaking, drawing everybody's attention. "I want all students born in the year 2154 here."

Some of them quickly stood up and walked to him, while most of them, insecure and faltering, hesitated a bit.

The three friends were still on their chairs: Rachel was thoughtfully looking at the mass of children with bandaged wrists. They were dilingently walking towards the man; while Jack and Dana observed their friend, waiting for any gesture or word.

All of their peers had reached their destination.

 ** _Why did they cut everyone's wrists? I don't understand…_** She thought as if she was hypnotized, staring at the students.

"Rachel! We have to go, stand up!" Dana whispered to her. Then, she placed her hand over her shoulder and shook her, almost as she wanted to wake her up.

At the touch Rachel's muscles moved quickly in a spasm. She stood up, stricken with a sudden awareness as she saw the last child of the her age group get through the door. "Dammit, everybody have already gone… let's go!" She started walking fast and with an hand gesture she encouraged her friends to follow her, who immediately stood up and had to nearly run to keep up with her.

"What were you thinking about?" Dana asked her, once they managed to squeeze themselves among their peers.

Rachel briefly moved her head in her eyes direction, which was the bendaged wrist of a kid in front of them. "Tonight I want to ask that to Michail!" She said quietly, but with such a certainty that gave goosebumps to Jack.

"Rachel! Do you remember what those girls said, don't you? We didn't do anything and they cut us. What will they do to you if you face Michail? He already gave you a punch!" He scolded her.

"What?! A punch?" Dana yelled. She was so dismayed that she couldn't control the intensity of her voice. When she noticed that she quickly covered her mouth with her hands but it was too late: the children who were close to them exchanged surprised glances to each other before turning around and scanning them.

The students arrived in front of a small door and above it there was a sign, which read: "Haima Synaptein Gnosis". Thompson opened the door, making a gesture to the children to enter and as soon as everybody was inside he locked it from the outside and went away.

The classroom was very spatious. It gave the appearance that it could host twice the number of the students who were there in that moment. The walls all around them were shiny white as the majority of the rooms in that place, while the marble tiles were red. It seemed that, in all the facilities owned by the Tenth, red and white had to be juxtaposed, as if the latter was essential to intensify the first. The ceiling was covered with mirrors, which were flat in the central section and convex in proximity of the walls. However, something more mesmerizing immediately drew the attention of the children: a tall statue of a woman in the centre of the room. Although it was certainly made of glass, inside of it there was something unique: small red tubes ran throughout the statue, converging in specific places such as the head and the chest. Besides, chairs and desks were orderly and symmetrically organized around the statue.

The students were clumped in front of the door, whispering to each other, hesitant on what to do.

Rachel, Jack and Dana where in the middle of the group, surrounded by lots of peers.

"What's happening?"Asked Dana. The only thing she could she were her classmates' shoulders.

"Here no one's moving. They're stalling even if the classroom is empty!" Answered Jack, standing on the tip of his toes to try to see what was in front of them. He was only a few inches taller than his friends but it made the difference in seeing the surrounding area. "Shouldn't we sit? There are chairs for everyone!"

Rachel, who was standing next to them, didn't say a word, but everytime someone bumped into her she quickly tapped her hand on her leg, as if she wanted to focus on something else. **_They're too close… why don't they move?!_** She thought, having lost her patience.

"Rachy?" Dana called her softly.

Rachel gave her a faint smile, desperately trying to hide her discomfort but everyone was talking, muttering and saying things she couldn't understand; they were shoulder against shoulder, back against back. She could hardly move. She was sweating. She couldn't endure this any longer. "Sit down!" She yelled, causing everybody to immediately shut up and look at her. However, nobody moved. In that moment, something in her snapped. She took Dana by her hand and urged her to do the same with Jack. Then, she walked forth, pushing and getting through the crowd. She thightened the grip on her friend's hand as she didn't want to show her that she was trembling. Once all students were behind them, she could finally breathe. Together they went towards the last row of desks and sat down. Every pair of eyes was still fixed on Rachel, but now she didn't care, she had her personal space and she didn't feel that bad sensation anymore.

Dana glanced briefly at her and realized that her friend had to be left alone by everyone. "Well… What are you waiting for? Sit down." She spurred her peers. Someone immediately listened to her and did what he had been told to do, followed by others until no one was left standing. She turned her gaze to Rachel. "Rachy, are you claustrophobic? No, it isn't the right word… demophobic, here it is!"

The little girl looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I am… what?" She eyed Jack with skepticism, who shrugged.

The blonde one giggled. "Demophobic. It means that you are scared of crowds! You have never been among so many people, haven't you?"

Rachel rubbed her head for a moment and, keeping her eyes elsewhere, she said: "I'm not agraphobic…"

Dana chuckled again. "Demophobic." She corrected her.

"How do you know such a difficult word?" Jack wanted to know.

"Well… my Nurturer sometimes talked to me… But not in the way others like her talked to me. She told me and explained to me things that she wasn't allowed to. She made ma laugh… I remember that one time she told me that she felt ill during a meeting with others Nurturers because she hadn't never seen such many people in a small place." She smiled thinking at that one woman, but a bittersweet feeeling swept over her. It seemed a faraway memory even if she hadn't seen her in a couple of days. She feared she wouldn't meet her ever again.

Rachel just gave her a hint of a smile. She wanted a Nurturer like that too.

Suddently, the classroom's door opened, revealing a woman wearing a long red tunic, which was decorated with a white embroidery; her hair was covered in a long hood, as well as her eyes. She walked towards the statue with her head bowed down to the floor, she kneeled in front of the sculpture and started praying. Her words were inaudible to the children, who looked at her with wonder and excitement. As soon as she stood up she placed herself beside the statue and she took off the hood, showing her shaved head and the lack of eyebrows. She scrutinized the students with her hypnotic glaze and white irises. "Haima synaptein gnosis." She recited; her voice was hoarse but pleasant to listen to.

"Haima synaptein gnosis." Repeated the children, placing their right hand on their left shoulder.

"Welcome to Doctrine and Law class. Before starting our first lesson, I need to tell you that you will stay with me every Monday until late afternoon, while the other days the lesson will only last an hour. I am a Monk and I expect you to call me with my title as Monks have renounced to their names." She regarded her students with a thoughtful look, especially the ones sitting in the front row, then she raised her arm to shoulder height and pointed her finger to one of them. "You. What's your name?"

"Ehm… Lucas Smith, Mrs Monk." The one who had been addressed answered, sweating.

"Monk is enough. Lucas, come here beside me and the statue." She ordered him.

The boy stood up from his chair and joined her. He couldn't stay still: he was standing there, constantly switching the leg that bore the weight of his body.

"You are quite stressed. Don't worry, it's a normal physiological response to new situations. Thanks to my teachings, in due time you will be able to control your fears and isolate your emotions and feelings in order not to disappoint the Red Mother. Lucas, according to you, who does this statue represent? "

The student carefully examined the sculpture and after a moment of hesitation he answered:" I… I think it's the Red Mother."

"Well said. Now try to describe the statue." She encouraged him.

"it's made of glass, I think… but inside of it there are several red tubes… no, the tubes are transparent but through them flows a red substance, and…"

The woman interrupted him. "What do you believe is that liquid, Lucas?"

"Welll… I don't know…" Lucas looked at the woman in search of an answer, but she stayed silent, waiting. The child started to recite the prayer in his mind, trying to find some sort of hint in it. "…blood?"

"Of course it's blood. And the tubes represent the veins. Go on."

In the face of that revelation, Dana raised her hand and her friends and the rest of her classmates began to stare at her with surprise.

"What's your name, child?" Asked the Monk.

"Dana Tickens, Monk."

The woman fixed her with a suspicious gaze. "What do you wish to ask?"

"Is it… real blood?" The girl questioned, trying to study the reaction of the person in front of her. The other students did the same, because everybody wanted to know the answer, although only one of them was voicing their curiosity.

"Yes, it is." She responded, dryly.

"…Human blood?" This time Dana's voice trembled.

The monk felt the gazes of a hundred puzzled eyes. "Of course. How can you even think that we put animal blood inside the statue of the Red Mother?! It would be… sacrilegious."

The child was left silent, totally shocked by the answer. She was not the only one to feel that way. It was a feeling shared by everyone.

"Tickens, come right here. Switch place with your classmate." The woman ordered her with a flaming look.

Dana stood up and threw Rachel a preoccupied glance. Then, she walked towards the statue as if it was the executioner's block. Her hands were shaking and her heart was beating furiously in her tiny chest.

"Rachel, how could it be human blood? It means that they have taken a sample of everyone's blood, doesn't it? It can't be the blood of just one person…" Asked Jack to the redhead, whispering.

Rachel face was uncertain. "I… yes, I think that blood is coming from a lot of different people… simple samples… they haven't hurt anybody." She smiled to him. She wanted to reassure him, but most of all she wanted to convince herself of the truth behind her words. Deep down, it was a feasible theory.

"Tickens. What do you see under the statue's foot?" The monk continued her lesson.

"Some books." Stated Dana, nervously rubbing her neck.

"And what do you think these books symbolize?" The woman's tone was placid, not indignant like before.

"Hmmm… the Red Mother pur-pursuits knowledge…" The girl was attempting to place together a sort of satisfying answer.

"Well said. Precisely, the Red Mother is the pure form knowledge, but why does she step on some books? The reason is that they represent the knowledge of the past and the Red Mother despises it. The truth is only in her words and preachings; before her there was ignorance and darkness. I am pleasantly glad that my students know what are books! Every time I wonder how the Nurturers can teach so well! Tickens, now you have only one detail left."

"The statue has something in her hand… a small square of metal."

The Monk nodded. "Yes! And in order to understand why the Red Mother has that square in her hand I have to tell you the story about the origins of the Tenth Street Reds. Tickens go back to your seat and don't ask any more questions."

Dana obeyed and sat on her chair.

"Well done, Dana!" Rachel congratulated her, followed by Jack who did the same. "You have been great!"

"I was afraid she would eat me." The kid joked, still nervous.

The Monk began to narrate the Tenth Street Reds story: "Our organization was founded by Andrew McStrovar in the year 2074, when he realized that human evolution could only be accomplished in a lab, but not through phials or chemical substances. It could only be carried out by using micro metal devices that, once they have been implanted under the skin, empower whoever possess them. These devices filter blood and load it with hormones or any other useful substance. However, the carrier must be healthy and his blood pure; in fact only who had been chosen by the Red Mother has these characteristics since birth. Is it everything clear or did I use complicated words?"

A kid raised his hand.

"What's your name?" The monk asked.

"Dave Grims, Monk. What's a hormone? And have we got these metal devices too?"

"These are some good questions! A device will be implanted in each one of you in three years' time, as soon as you'll pass the test." She made a brief pause. "The hormones are substances that are released in our body…"

"Hey Dana, I think I dreamt of the Red Mother." Rachel whispered.

"What? How? Are you sure it was her?"

"Yes… I mean, I think… I woke up in her arms. It was so beautiful. I felt safe." She smiled at the thought, but after a while her look changed. "Then water began to fall from above me… from the sky and…"

"Water from the sky? Do you mean rain? We have never seen it, Rachy. The only time we went out it was sunny and there only were a couple of sh-clouds… how is it possible you dreamt it?"

"I don't know… her face was so stern and she was angry at me and she was frightening… she wasn't the same person as before. She tried to attack me…" Rachel lowered her head.

"And… how did it end?".

"I woke up… in the real world…"

"Be quiet, there! Tickens, do you wish to be punished?" The monk intervened, hushing the students.

"No, Monk. Forgive me…" Said Dana, red with shame.

"You, beside her." The woman addressed Rachel, staring at her.

Rachel pointed her finger at her chest. A surprised look on her face.

"Yes, you. What's your name?" The monk asked. Her tone was harsh and inquisitive.

"Petrini… Rachel Petrini…" Although she felt the eyes of her classmates on her, only the white ones instilled reverence and anxiety. However, it wasn't the only detail that upset her. Everything about her, her posture, her voice, her appearance and her devotion to the Mother, emanated austerity and inner strength. Her true identity, the woman who was living under the monk's robes, seemed non-existent. Moreover, even if something real persisted inside of her, her white eyes were inscrutable mirrors.

"During my lesson you can't talk with each other. First and last warning, Petrini and Tickens."

"Yes, Monk." Answered the girls in unison.

"Good. Now that I have introduced to you the story about the origins of the Tenth Street Reds, I'm going to explain to you how our organization works. Many people align themselves with our religion, but not all of them have the same relevance and authority. Our society is pyramid based. At the top of the pyramid there are the scientists, which are called the Lobes, followed by the Priests and the Monks. The middle is composed of all sorts of fighters: for example there are the assassins, called the Blades; or the security officers, the Gladiators. In this social rank there also is a particual profession and the few who can carry it out are called the Faces. They are identity thieves who submit themselves to several facial reconstructions. I am well aware that you will have a lot of questions about them, but don't worry, we are going to study these jobs in a very detailed way in the next lessons. At the base of the pyramid there are the commoners. They can have various jobs: we have Cooks, Drivers and so on. What is important is that our city, Asheville, is divided into fractions. Besides us there are the Blue Templars and the White Roses. The Blue Templars, our allies, are experts in commerce, while the Roses, our enemies, are specialized in the production of chemical substances. Regarding the religious aspect, they all have different beliefs and practices that are a mixture of the old religions." The monk, clearly tired, took a deep breath. "Petrini, come beside me and summarise everything I've just told you."

* * *

 **6 hours later**

"My head's splitting. This lesson literally killed me." Complained Rachel, massaging her temples.

The lesson was over and the three friends were out of the room and headed towards the hall.

"And I stink because I was worried." Stated Diana, once she had smelled her armpits. "Come, Rachel, smell them!" She said, moving close to her friend.

The red haired girl distanced herself, terrorized and with a sneer of disgust on her face. "Don't you dare!" She chuckled. "Go to Jack!"

"Why?! No, don't do it!" Pleaded Jack, waving his hands in front of him.

"Don't be shy, Jack. It's something that happens only once in a while! You should take this opportunity!"

"I think you'll stink every day! Poor us…" Joked Rachel, intervening before Jack could say something.

"Ah, ah, Rach! Should we talk about your sweaty hands? A Fish could swim on them!" The blonde retorted. "How are you gonna eat dinner? Your spoon will slip away!" Dana started laughing so hard that her face became red.

 ** _She's happy again…_** Rachel thought with a smile on her lips. She was so relieved that her friend bounced back from the shock of having her wrist cut. She became again the cheerful and joking child that she had always been. Together, the three of them, could be happy, even in that place.

In the meanwhile, they had reached the hall and from there they had to take different directions: Jack and Rachel should have climbed the staircase on the right, where the even numbers rooms where located, while Dana should have walked up the stairs on the left and then straight towards the odd numbers rooms.

"Ok… so… we'll see each other in three hours for dinner!" Said Rachel, waving her hand to her peer.

Jack went close to her roommate. "Bye, Dana!"

"Bye, friends!" Dana waved back. "Hey, Jack, make sure that Rachel doesn't get in any trouble!" She added.

* * *

"We should find something to do… or I'll die of boredom." Pointed out Rachel, while she was opening the door of the eighth room. Having met Dana and spending some time with her made her feel at ease, but what she saw inside the room took her by surprise. Her heart stopped in her throat and her head began to spin. She blinked twice in order to clarify the image before her: it was really happening. It was all real.


	9. Sons of blood

**Chapter 9 = Sons of blood.**

"Jack, stay back!" Rachel warned his friend, putting her arm in front of his chest.

As soon as the boy saw what frightened her so much, he started to gasp for air, terrified.

"Is this your blood, Michail?!" Asked the girl with a cracked voice.

Michail was sitting on the tiny camp bed with his back reclined against the wall. His hands were dirty with blood as well as his clothes. He wasn't saying anything.

In the room there was another child, whom Rachel didn't recognize. Probably, he was one of their roommates; someone she never had the chance to meet. He was standing on the right side of the room, cornered and scared. His hair was orange and messy, while the tone of his skin was a rather dark pink.

"Michail!" Rachel called him again in a desperate attempt to receive an answer.

"No. No… it's not mine… it's not my blood… no no and no!" He whispered, passively pulling his knees to his chest and rocking forwards and backwards. From time to time he shook his head and giggled.

Jack went quickly out of the room, terrified to death.

"Whose blood is it, then? What have you done?!" Rachel was trying to keep her tears inside her eyes.

"Me? I haven't done anything… I just went close to them and… and…" He paused. "Why do you think I have done something, little ginger girl?" Michail got up and walked towards her very slowly. His eyes were red and dilated from the shock.

In the meanwhile, the other kid closed the distance and went beside Rachel. "Michail… hey, we have known each other for two years now… I'm sure you didn't do anything… bad. Stop right there, ok?" He put his hands in front of his chest, trying to calm down his friend.

However, Michail didn't stop moving and soon he was a few inches away from their faces. The frightened children didn't move a muscle. Then, Michail raised one hand and put it on the boy's face, making it wet with blood. He turned and went back to his camp bed.

Suddently, behind them the door opened and man with an imposing body size and confident stride entered the room. He wore his long and dark hair in a ponytail and a thick beard covered half of his face. He was dressed in a loose medical coat, which was white except for two red stripes on each of his shoulders.

He stood at the foot of the camp bed. "Michail Weyn, follow me to the infirmary, now." His voice was deep and authoritarian. It reflected his physical appearance.

At the sound of his words Michail lifted his head and looked at him. After a quick moment of reflection, he got up and followed him without questions, as if he was a robot without conscience.

Jack sneaked into the room a little before the two of them could reach the door and close it behind them.

"Was it you who called him?" Rachel asked him, not moving from the wall but slightly turning her head towards her interlocutor.

"I've run to the Nurturer and she did the rest… so, what has he done?"

"I don't know…" She admitted, lightly. Then, she looked at the bed sheets stained with blood. "I'm so proud of you… you didn't escape, you called for help…" She hugged him tightly.

The boy with orange hair broke the heartfelt moment. "I… I think I'll go wash my face…"

Jack, who hasn't noticed his face until then, jumped from the shock. "What happened to you?! Did he hurt you?"

"Michail has smeared him with blood… you should have seen the look on his face while he was doing it." Rachel explained to him.

The stranger walked to the door. "He has never behaved like this before… something must have happened…"

"What have you just said?! Yesterday he cut our wrists! He's a psycho!" The girl retorted and showed him her bendaged wrist.

"I'm well aware. I've seen it… a bunch of times." He said abruptly and left the room.

* * *

Dana was seating in a corner of the fifth room. Silent. From time to time she would throw some glances to her roommates. She hadn't spoken to them yet. She didn't feel like it. Perharps, it was because their faces didn't convey any human emotion.

 ** _I wish Rachel and Jack were here…_** She thought, laying down on her bed and placing her chin on her hands.

"Hey you, go wash yourself! I can't smell this stench any longer…" Complained one of her roommates.

The blondie looked in the direction of the feminine voice. "Where?"

"You have to go out of this building to the fabrication on the right. On the door is written: "Showers and washbasins". You can't miss it. I guess you already know that you could wash your clothes there too."

"Thanks, but… the only clothes I've got are the ones I'm wearing. Where did you get others?"

"You'll receive your personal bag during the Fight lesson."

Dana tried to see whom she was talking to by raising her head but couldn't see her face. She thanked again and went out of the room.

The moment she left the main building she walked for a short distance in the yard made of concrete before noticing the fabrication: an anonymous structure with a small metal door on which there were written the exact words her roommate said. The door creaked loudly when she opened it and when she closed it carefully behind her. The walls weren't covered and the floor wasn't tiled. There was only concrete, inside and out. A line of washbasins run throughout the entire left wall while on the opposite side there were many showers. In the centre a thick wall separated the two zones. Dana went to the showers side and scrutinized the first one she saw: on the inside there was a dirty soapdish while on the outside a large white towel was hanging from a hook. She quickly took her clothes off, she stepped in the shower and turned the hot water handle. She was caught unprepared when a stream of freezing water hit her head. All the exhaustion she had accumulated wore off in an istant. The falling drops stung like piercing needles. All of her muscles screamed with pain. After a bunch of seconds she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, covering herself with the warm and harsh towel.

 ** _This. Is. The. Last. Shower. Of. My. life._** She thought, while she was drying herself.

 ** _I have to warn Rachel and Jack that the water is freezing…_** She put on her dirty clothes.

She was heading for the exit when she saw a kid with orange hair, whose face was grimy with blood. Her heart stopped for a moment, but nonetheless she decided to approach him.

"What happened to you?" She asked him, keeping the distance.

The boy peered at her. "Nothing… it's alright…" He muttered, while he was washing his hands and face. That was when Dana noticed a scar on his wrist of the shape of an eight.

 ** _Why does he have it?_** She wondered. After a bunch of seconds she understood and her eyes widened from the realization.

A couple of minutes after the girl was already climbing the stairs to the even numbers rooms. She run through the corridor until she saw an open door. She stopped, scared. Everything could have happened there.

"That kid owes us an explanation!" She heard Rachel's voice.

 ** _She's ok._** She took a breath of relief and entered the room. "Hey!" She greeted, accidentally scaring Rachel and Jack.

"Dana!" They greeted back and they hugged her in turns.

"You ok? What happened?"

"Michail totally lost it!" Revealed Jack.

Rachel nodded. "He was covered in blood! He scared us a lot…"

"Covered in blood?! I saw him! He was washing his face and…"

The redhead frowned. "How could you? Michail has been taken to the infirmary…" She hesitated, thoughtful. "You saw the kid with orange hair! He's not Michail."

"Are you talking about me?" Their roommate was standing on the threshold of the door.

Rachel scrutined him thoroughly. His hazel eyes were a mixture of green and brown. A small mole stood out near his nose, which was rather pointy. "You. You have to tell us everything you know!"

He sighed. "I'm Toni Mendez and i'm 9 years old." He gazed towards Dana. "You can't stay in a room that isn't your own. I'm a good person and I won't tell anyone that you have been here, but in a few minutes you must go out."

Tickens nodded.

"Those lunatic girls should have explained to you these things!" He sighed. "So, let's start with our roommates. The girl who sleeps in the lower bed, the brunette one, is Clara Yari. She basically never speaks. I wonder if she's mute. However, she fights like a demon. In the upper bed sleeps Anna Goethe and she's quite the paranoid. Then there are the nine-year-old boys: me and Tom Smith: Tom is a bit… coward. You already know Michail Weyn, he's the leader because is the oldest as you'll have understood by now. Lastly, there's Frank cesaro, who's quite dangerous. Also, he's Michail's peer. Well, now you know everything."

Dana scratched her head. "We still know nothing about the important things."

Rachel crossed her arms. "Tell us about Michail and the wrists' cuts."

"So many questions…" Said Mendez, annoyed. "Michail's my friend and he's a good kid. The cut on the wrist has been done hundreds of time in the Red Hild's history by lots of different children. It's a compulsory tradition that must be performed by the older member of each room to the newbies. If the leader doesn't do it he will loose everybody's respect. In other words, if Michail refused, someone else would have done it to you."

"It doesn't have any sense… that's a horrible tradition!" Jack was astonished.

"What about today?" Asked Rachel.

Toni lowered his head, caught by a sudden sadness. "I really don't know… I swear. It's not like him to behave like that. He's always been… a sensible boy." He paused, then raised his gaze to them. "Today is the test day!" He began to nervously touch a lock of hair. "I hope he hadn't hurt anyone… If he got expelled… I won't see him ever again…" His eyes became wet with tears. Two drops fell to the ground before he dried his cheeks and eyes with his sleeve and tried to control himself.

"So who's gonna be the leader now?" Inquired Jack, worried about the answer.

"Frank Cesaro. But shortly he'll do the test." Mendez fixed his shirt. "Then I will be."

Rachel made a step forward. "You said that Frank Cesaro is the dangerous one… comforting. As soon as you'll be the leader you will stop this awful tradition, won't you?" The girl tone was intimidating.

Toni looked at her with superiority. "They will never end."


	10. Fight

**Chapter 10 = Fight.**

Her legs were slightly spread apart. Her feet pinned in the ground. She was almost in position. She pulled her elbow back with her hand closed upward. She then moved it forward and with a rotating gesture she hit the target.

"Well done, Petrini. More angry next time." Instructor Ericsson placed his hand on her shoulder. "Pretend that you're hitting an enemy and not a punching bag. Ok?"

The girl nodded and the old man gave her a pat on the head. He approached Dana and helped her to stand in the correct position, slowly showing her how to do it.

"Students, be sure to train both of your hands: Right and left, right ad left. Soon I'll teach you how to kick as-... Ehm ehm." He coughed when he noticed the word he was about to say was not appropriate. He was a middle-aged man, but his long white hair and his short and thick beard made him look twice as old. He wasn't particularly tall but his stance gave everybody the impression that he was very agile. His warm voice instilled self-assurance to whoever heard him talk. If he had some flaws, Rachel hadn't found them yet.

He had the habit to train the children outdoor in a proper place on the tarmac on which some gym mats and equipments were laid. It didn't matter if the sky was blue or if it rained, if it was boiling hot or freezing cold, the student had to be trained every day.

"Don't you think it's boring to punch a bag? We've been doing it for twenty minutes…" Complained Dana, while she was lazily doing the exercise.

"It's still better than listening to that bald woman talk about how great the Mother is and blah blah blah…" Retorted Jack.

The blondie looked at him with a preoccupied face. "Jack! Don't talk like that about the Monk! If someone heard you, you could get in trouble!" She scolded him quietly.

Her words alarmed him so much that he started to look at the people all around him. "Nobody heard me, right?"

Dana made a meek gesture and addressed Rachel. "And you? What do you think about this lesson?"

"I really like it! And the Instructor seems alright! Thanks to his teachings I can learn to defend myself from someone like Michail!" Her eyes confirmed the depth of her conviction.

 ** _Ericsson seems the only normal person in this place, like if he's one of us._** She thought with a smile on her lips.

"You're right, but Michail is way older than us and he surely knows many fighting moves, while we are just starting to learn the first ones… we can't beat him!" Stated Dana as if she had been caught by a sudden worry.

Rachel stopped punching the bag and turned her gaze to her. "Yes, but there are three of us!" She blinked an eye.

The instructor decided that it was high time to finally explain to the children the program of his discipline. "Well, before teaching you another move, the kick, I'll have to clarify what you'll learn in this course. I know, I should have told you right at the beginning, but as you can see… age made me forgetful! My job is to prepare you on the basics of two fighting techinques: brasilian ju jitsu and taekwondo. Briefly, brasilian ju jitsu focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting. You'll soon understand that a smaller, weaker person can successfully defend himself against a bigger and stronger assailant by taking the fight to the ground and then applying joint locks and chokeholds to defeat the opponent. Instead, if you have to fight more than one person" He paused to laugh a little. "you'll use the taekwondo and basically kick a lot! It's fun!" He sneered. "We'll also run and run and… do some gym!" He finished his speech with a big grin. The students kept looking at him even if he wasn't saying anything more. The man threw a quick and confused glance to the children and then he remembered. "Oh yes yes… I have to teach you how to kick!"

* * *

At half past four the sun slammed down on the tarmac, heating the air and making it hard to breathe and to keep running.

"Ten more laps around the field and then you can take a break. I know that you are weary and fatigued, but the secret is to never give up! Keep going, step after step!" Ericsson spurred the students.

"Rachy, I don't know if I can continue much longer…" Admitted Dana, out of breath.

The redhead placed a hand on her back and pushed her a little to help her. **_The end is near… I can do this… there's no other way!_** She thought, staring at the ground. She noticed that if she focused on something, in this case the minuscule grains that composed the concrete, it was easier not to think about the pain in her muscles.

However, at some point, Dana slowed her pace down to a brisk walk until she came to a stop. Her two friends decided to halt too in order to make sure she was doing ok. It was also an excuse to catch their breath.

"What's the matter? Are you tired?" Asked Jack, panting.

"I'm not feeling ok." Her legs were stretched apart, her hands were on her knees and her back was bent. She was worn-out.

The Instructor came to them in a matter of seconds. "Follow me." He ordered Dana, taking her hand and bringing her to a gym mat, where he sat her down. "You two, run!" He shouted to Jack and Rachel.

"Do you think she'll be ok?" The boy wanted to know.

"Of course, she only needs a bit of rest." Rachel reassured him. She turned her gaze to the blondie and saw that she was drinking a strange green susbstance with Ericsson beside her. "He gave her something to drink to make her feel ok again." She reported to Jack between a ragged breath and another one.

"I'm so glad. By the way… I really like him!" He revealed.

"I like him too." She admitted, happy.

"Two more laps! Let's pick up the pace, children! Be prepared for a sprint finish and-" The Instructor was about to explain one more thing but the Secretary interrupted him.

"Instructor Ericsson, the Guardian ordered me to tell you that your program has to be reviewed." Thompson came out of nowhere but he made sure that even the students who where running far from him could hear him. "Children, stop what you're doing and come here. I need to tell you something important."

The students looked at the Instructor with confused faces but they nodded their head to show that they obeyed to the Secretary's orders. Successively, they grouped in front of the two men, while Jack and Rachel went to check Dana's conditions.

"How are you?" Rachel asked her quietly.

"Much better now!" Answered Dana with a cheerful voice.

The Secretary cleared his throat. "A few years from now we had the ultimate proof that we're not alone in the universe. Briefly, aliens exist. Some are similiar to us, others are very different. So what's an alien? It's a conscious living being that lives in another planet. For this reason, Guardian Annabelle Joy feels it's important to learn how to fight against one of them, to know its strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, there's isn't much time to learn everything, so the Instructor will teach you only the basis. Moreover, the Guardian has introduced a new discipline: "Alien organisms" Lobe Loyd, who is also your Science teacher, will meet you every evening, after dinner, to explain to you the essential characteristics of extraterrestrian biology. This is all, students. Haima Synaptein Gnosis." He walked away, leaving the children and the Instructor alone again.

Ericsson rubbed his head. His eyes harbored doubts. "I wonder what's the point in teaching you how to fight these creatures… It is unlikely they'll come here in Asheville." He sighed. "But these are the orders and we must obey, right?" He waited for an answer from the children, who nodded. "Well, from tomorrow we'll use some of our time together to think how… not to die against them." He smiled reassuringly. "Today's lesson is over, I hope you liked it. Take your new bags, I laid them near the trampoline."

"What do you think aliens look like? Maybe they have eight arms!" Wondered Jack while they were heading to the trampoline to pick up their bags.

"Let's hope their name isn't Dana… I don't want to smell their eight armpits!" Rachel chuckled and kept throwing looks at her friend.

"Very funny. Maybe they have eight heads!"

Rachel shrugged. "What if they don't talk at all? Or if they are like animals? Perharps they are big worms who pop out of the soil and eat humans! But then I'll come and with a jump I'll ride them and take control of them and save the day!" She hypothesized, trotting and incapable of restraining her excitement.

Dana frowned. "How can you ride worms? They don't have any saddle in which you can hop!"

"Worms are disgusting!" Muttered Jack.

"I don't know, ask it to me once I'll be the intergalactic champion of the giant worms ride!" She said while she was imagining herself in the future.

"I'll be your number one fan!" Exclaimed Dana with a huge smile.


	11. Arm yourself

**Chapter 11 = Arm yourself.**

 _Wednesday was science day and we spent it between a DNA molecule and another. It was rather interesting studying, a few hours apart, human and alien biology. We learnt a lot of different things about Asari, Krogan, Turian, Salarian and so on… It wasn't an in-depth study because the Guardian ordered the teachers not to overload us with information and, above all, the First Contact War happened only a few years prior and, at that time, aliens tended to keep their secrets hidden from us. Our professor, Lobe Loyd, was very strict and authoritarian and when he spoke about aliens his disgust was evident. However, such externalization would have never equated with Jack's face when he saw for the first time an image of a batarian and his disappointment when he found out that there weren't extraterrestrians with eight heads or eight arms. We reassured him by saying that, probably, that species, which we called "Dana" for fun, hadn't been discovered yet._

 _Tech lesson was on Thursday. We learnt how to use computers, olopads and sperimental technologies like the olohelmets, which were lightweight helmets that gave the users various informations about the surrounding area. It was Dana favourite subject as she was particularly skilled in doing every exercise. In fact, during the first lesson she realized she wanted to work in that area and that her dream was to become a technician._

 _Then, Friday came and with it the meeting with Armorer Zimmermann…_

"We've been waiting for more than half an hour!" Said one of the one hundred children, who were inside the fabrication used as a storage. It was a spatious room filled, alongside the walls, with lockers and armoires. In then narrowed, in the north-east part, into a corridor that lead to a shooting range.

Dana passed a hand over her face, suddently tired. "He's right… where can the Armorer possibly have gone?" She asked her friends, impatient.

"Perharps the Guardian is holding him for some reason…" Guessed Jack.

Rachel rubbed her head in a thinking gesture. "What if it's test and we have to find the courage to train ourselves?"

The blondie gave her a concerned look. "But we don't even know where the weapons are!

"Well… surely they must be here. All we have to do is look for them!" Retorted Rachel, using a firm voice. She was about to distance herself from the group when her friend took her arm.

"Rachy, we can't risk it! What's going to happen if you were wrong and they caught us looking for guns? We would be punished!" Dana whispered to her and, after a moment, let go of her arm.

"Dana's right… come on, he's only a little late." Added Jack.

"Think about it, did anything like this ever happen? No. They are always perfectly punctual! Something isn't right today…" Pointed out the redhead, distressing everyone near her.

Jack intervened. "I've got an idea! Let's wait another twenty minutes and if by that time the Armorer doesn't arrive, we do whatever Rachel says!"

* * *

 **25 minutes later.**

Dana crossed her arms and looked at Rachel. "Ok, you're right. What now?"

"Now we convince everyone to start looking for clues about the whereabouts of the weapons."

Her two friends stared at her without saying anything, waiting. As soon as Rachel felt their gazes, she made a confused face. "What?" Then she understood. "No, don't look at me. I'm not good at talking to so many people! Dana, you have to do it."

The blondie paled. "Me? Why me?!"

"You're very good with words and you know it! Should I remind you that time when you explained to us the meaning of that complicated word? What was it? Dem… uhmm…"

Dana sighed. "Demophobic. But we also called shroud a cloud for days!" She paused. "Ok… I'll do it…" She distanced herself from everyone and started speaking. "Mates. The Armormer is very late, so… my friends and I thought about something: what if it is a test? Teachers had never been late, not even for a minute. We should look for the weapons and show the Red Mother that we can train ourselves!"

After the speech followed a murmuring among the students.

"I didn't expect she would mention the Mother…" Rachel whispered to Jack with an amused grin.

"Ok." Suddently said one of the children. "I agree!" Remarked another, and then another one, until the majority of the students began to sweep the room.

"I told you that you're good with words!" Rachel gave Dana a little push with the shoulder. The blondie's lips widened into a big smile.

The three of them approached one of the metal lockers. "It's locked with a padlock! We need a combination!" Noticed Jack, speaking loudly so that anyone could hear him.

Rachel took the padlock into her hand. "Maybe it's not the right one…we don't know any combination…" She was about to put it back in its place but, as soon as her fingers were slipping away, she felt that at the back the surface was rough. She stopped what she was doing and turned it.

"Here there's one too!" A student shouted from the other side of the storage.

"Turn it!" Answered Dana, carefully observing what the redhead was doing.

A writing was engraved at the back of the padlock. "They are white…" Mumbled Rachel to herself and then she repeated it to the whole group. "It's written: they are white."

"This is different. The inscription reads: the five commandments of the Mother." Yelled the boy from before.

"Discipline, order, punctuality, obey and carry out." Recited by heart a girl beside him.

Dana wiggled her nose. "I don't understand. Shouldn't there be numbers?"

Suddently, Jack's eyes went big. "Roses!" He waved his arms and couldn't stay still from the excitement. "Roses are white!" A hundred pair of eyes stared at him.

"He's right! The White Roses!" Added one of their peers.

A moment later someone else intervened. "Hey, in the corner near the door I saw some white roses hanging from the ceiling!" He ran towards the flowers and he was soon followed by all his mates.

 _That was how we began to finally collect and understand the pieces of the puzzle, obviously we spent some time scrutinizing the roses until someone magically had a stroke of genius. The combination was: 3, the number of the roses; 6, 7 and 8 the number of the petals in each rose. Once the padlock was opened so was the armoirer that contained the small spheres which generated a holohelmet. Regarding the second riddle, it was sufficient to look at the clock of the storage, which was broken and read 15:17. In fact, punctuality, the second commandment of the Red Mother, had to be always respected. If I remember correctly there were four more riddles. It took us a lot of time to resolve all of them. In the other armoires there were weapons and a olopad that, once it was turned on, informed that it had to be linked to the only computer in the shooting range._

"Dana, the olopad it's up to you. You're the expert!" Said Rachel after she read what it had to be done with the olopad.

The blondie giggled, embarassed. "We only attented one lesson, Rachy. But… I'll try." She grabbed the olopad and used it for a few minutes. "Ok, done it!" She notified, thrilled.

A video appeared on the computer's monitor. It was freeze-framed and a man face could be seen. He seemed in his late forties since his hair was grey and he had some wrinkles near his eyes and mouth.

"Oh Mother… how do I start it?" She muttered to herself. Her finger slided to the right and to the left, relentlessy. Then, the video started and the children could finally hear the man's voice and see his mouth moving.

"Haima synaptein gnosis, students. If you haven't understood it yet, I'm Zimmermann, the Armorer. Congratulations on your success in resolving all the riddles. Before continuing with the lesson, the one holding the olopad shoud click on the _settings_ icon and _transmit_." Zimmermann stopped speaking in order to give Dana the time to carry out his instructions. After some movements with her fingers the video was soon projected on the farthest wall of the shooting range, behind the targets so that everyone could see it during the training. "Very good. Each one of you has to wear a olohelmet and grab a gun. It's important to inform you that they are compressed air guns, however don't aim them at each other, they're very dangerous. Take turns every ten minutes because the posts aren't as many as you are and the guns are heavy." Zimmermann showed the students how to load a gun and how to point it so that the children could mimic every gesture. "The olohelmet will help you to aim at the right angle and this will be essential during your outdoor operations."

 _We trained until dark. Although it was an exciting experience, I still preferred the fight lesson. Since my childhood I have had the thought that anyone could shoot and kill, even the most dull person. Fighting, instead, requires sacrifice, patience and years and years of practice. And it isn't just punches and kicks, fighting it's an efficient way to balance body and mind._


	12. Saturday

**Chapter 12 = Saturday.**

In the dead of the night somebody knocked on the door of the eighth room.

Jack, who was laying down on the floor with Rachel, slowly opened his eyes and sat up; while her friend was sound asleep. He looked at her for a moment and then shook her lightly on the shoulder. "Wake up, I heard a knock!" He whispered to her.

Rachel answered with an annoyed groan. She rubbed her eyes, got up from the ground and went to the door with the boy following her. After exchanging a quick but meaningful glance between each other, the girl opened the door.

In front of them there was a man, who was completely dressed in a black jumpsuit that also covered his face. He was also wearing thick red goggles. "Petrini and O' Connor?" His voice sounded metallic.

The two of them nodded, hesitant and quite puzzled.

"Follow me, keep in single file and don't talk."

Jack and Rachel obeyed and followed the man while he knocked on every door of the pair numbers rooms and called out their peers with sleepy faces.

The seven-year-old students didn't say a word but they were clearly confused and concerned. They discended the stairs, crossed the hall and went outside. As soon as they reached the gate, the adult stopped walking and behind him the children did the same. Outside it would have been pitch dark if two small street lights hadn't enlightened the road and part of the Red Hild.

The man, successively, took with his hand a big plastic sack that was laying down near the gate wall, opened it and rummaged inside of it. He produced a pair of goggles, which were similiar to the one he was wearing. "These are night vision goggles. With their help you can see in the dark." He informed the children and began to distribute the goggles to each one of them, who immediately wore them. The adult, after witnessing the children's excited reaction, continued speaking: "Now we are going to cross the gate and visit a small portion of Asheville. In this way, in a few years' time, once you will be working on the field, you'll know this city like the back of your hands: Asheville won't have any secrets for you. Every Saturday night you'll come with me to learn everything about this city. If you see anyone do not approach him or her. Let's go!" The man put his hand near the right side of his head and moved it quickly, giving the students the sign to proceed and follow him. From that time onward the seven-year-olds started to call him Mr. Black.

They exited the gate and found themselves on the sidewalk right outside the structure. Thanks to the night vision the sorroundings were green colored.

"Pss! Hey, Rach! Your face is green!" Whispered Jack.

"Of course it is! We are sneaky drells who hide in the shadows ready to cut our victims' throats!"

Jack grinned.

The children looked around in awe: they had seen the city just once, during the bus trip. Suddently, Mr. Black crossed the street and stopped in front of a building. "Alright students, this is an abandoned building. Now we're going inside to sweep it. Watch your steps, this place is pretty wrecked." He recommended.

The little Reds nodded and so the man kicked the wooden bar that was used as a door.

It was a two-story old house. Its wallpaper was incredibly dirty and all the forniture, which once was there, had been stolen, as it was obvious by the piled up dust on the sides and in the corners of the rooms. The first floor windows were barred from the inside, stopping the air from coming in and making the air almost unbreathable.

"The first floor isn't important, so don't waste any time and let's go check the second floor. Pay attention to the third step. It's broken." They climbed the stairs, which were located in the hall, and found themselves in a large room that was decorated with a washed out rug, a queen size bed and pink curtains on a large window on the north side. There were two doors, one of them gave access to a small bathroom, the other one to a broom closet.

"Come here." Ordered Mr. Black. The children obeyed and went by the window. Below them a street narrowed between their location and a neglected metal factory. "This is a key street, because it leads to the main road and the neighbourhood square…" The man walked towards the bathroom, leaving his speech unfinished, and approached the window, which was located on the left side. Then he encouraged the students to follow him. "This is the main road. Some of the bloodiest fights have taken place here. So, when you'll need a strategic place that allows you to shoot at enemies from above, you'll know where to go."

A child shyly cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention. "We shoot at the bad guys, don't we?"

Mr. Black hesitated for a moment, his expression covered by the cloth on his face. "Bad? Who taught you this word? Right, wrong, bad, good… they're non-existent concepts. There aren't good people in this world." He said driedly, making himself space between the students and leaving the room. The children did the same and since they didn't see him outside, they decided altogether to descend the stairs.

"That wasn't a reassuring answer." Jack pointed out to her friend.

Rahel's forehead wrinkled. "I know… I'm scared of what they will ask us to do once we'll be older…"

"So am I! What do you think we need the fighting lesson for?" The boys scratched his head, deeply worried.

"Maybe they only want to teach us to defend ourselves from whoever wants to hurt us…" Said the redhead with a hopeful voice, while she was descending the last step.

"What if we refused to train with the others?" Proposed Jack. "We would fail the test and get expelled from… _this!_ In this way we wouldn't risk doing things we don't want to do!"

"Are you crazy?! Where do you want to go? For better or worse the Reds are our family. They're everything we are… there's no other place for us if not here. Please… I beg you… keep training."

"Ok…" He answered. His face uncertain.

As soon as all the students went out the house, Mr. Black carried them on on the main road. "Look around and memorize everything you see."

"Jack, why do you think they let us go outside during the night and not in the daytime?" The two friends were walking to the back of the line to not be heard by the man.

"Perharps they want us to get familiar with these googles…"

"It is possible… but have you noticed that we have never seen someone of another faction? I wonder why.."

"What do you mean? You're saying that the Reds don't want others to see us?" Jack began to sweat. This kind of theories brought him to a state of unrest.

Rachel put an arm around his shoulders. "Hmmm… hmmm…" She nodded.

Suddently, Mr Black stopped his march. "Stay close and quiet!" A silhouette of a man could be seen on the sidewalk on their left. "Whoever approaches him will be punished! Let's go!" He made the gesture to proceed and got back on his path.

The little reds did as they had been told to do, even if they were curious and frightened at the same time. But soon the stranger noticed them, probably because he had heard the noise of their footsteps, and began to slowly close the distance, faltering. A staggered step after the other. He turned on an electric torch and blinded the children who, due to their night vision goggles, found themselves immersed in a dazzling green light. He started running.

In a few seconds, he managed to grab a child, who fell down to the ground, and attempted to drag him away from the others. Mr. Black cracked his neck and calmly punched the assailant on his cheek and kneed him in the stomach. The stranger, who turned out to be a sick middle-aged man, passively endured his blows until he lost consciousness.

"Disgusting!" Complained Mr. Black. "Now I have to wash my gloves and pants." He angrily kicked the side of the inert man.

The kid who had fell down was crying from the shock. The others were staring at their teacher: they couldn't believe their eyes. That day the children learned that the world was a dangerous place. Was that the reason why they lived inside the Red Hild's walls and they were taught to fight? Who was that man? What faction was he in? What would have happened to the kid who had fallen in his clutches? These were the questions that kept swimming inside the student's heads. They had no other option than to live as they had until then: inside an institution that would have protected them.


	13. Don't do it

**Chapter 13 = Don't do it.**

 **A year later (2162)**

She was laying on her bed. For the first time after a year she didn't have to sleep on the cold floor. Although a heavy slumber was descending over her, she couldn't allow her eyelids to close. That night the newcomers' wrists would have been cut in the shape of a eight. She had to stop it. Futile were the attempts to persuade Toni not to continue that horrible practice. "It's tradition." He kept saying.

However, traditions don't last forever. Sometimes, it's necessary to break them.

Rachel and Jack had memorized their plan: together they had some possibilities to succeed. Dana, on the contrary, couldn't do much on her own. She would have tried to stop the cuts from happening only if Jack and Rachel had come running to her room to help her.

Jack was sleeping on the bottom bed of the bunk bed and would have been woken up by Rachel at the right time.

The redhead was repeating every single detail of the plan in her mind in order to not fall asleep when suddently, the faint beam of a flashlight lit up a portion of the room.

The girl leaned off the bed and lightly touched Jack, who woke up and started heavy breathing.

Toni, who was holding the torch, stood up from his camp bed and approached the two seven-year-old girls that were sleeping in the corner of the room. Rachel and Jack climbed down the bunk bed ladder and moved with stealthy steps.

"WAKE UP! IT'S TIME TO BE BRANDED!" He shouted, pulling out a tiny blade from his pants.

The newcomers, scared to death, flattened on the wall and as soon as they saw the sharp object the started to scream.

Mendez was about to grab the arm of one of the girls when Rachel called him. "Hey, Toni!" She said with a grin, drawing his attention. The second that he turned his head to face her he was hit by a punch on his cheek. He fell to the ground and lost his grip on the torch, which rolled away across the floor. "Sorry." She whispered to him. In the meanwhile Jack picked up the flashlight, gave it to her friend, ran to the new girls and persuaded them to follow him outside towards a hiding spot.

"You're so stupid!" Toni scolded her. "It's useless and you know it!" He stated while he was caressing his cheek. He tried to get up but the readhead stopped him by kicking him on the chest. "I don't want to hurt you anymore. Stay down!" She ordered him, using the big voice. Mendez laughed. "You haven't beaten me yet." He got up in a quick move and placed himself in a fighting postion. "Show me what you've learned, rookie."

Rachel laid the torch down on the bunk bed. Then, the two of them started circling each other under the watchful eyes of their roommates. The boy threw a kick towards the readhead's cheek, but she blocked it with her arm. The girl took advantage of the temporary immobility of her opponent to close the distance and with a rotation of the torso she backward kicked him in the stomach. Toni grabbed his foot and brought her to the ground. He applied a joint hold on her leg, making her scream in pain. She couldn't move.

"You must respect me! Do you understand?!" Mendez lifted her foot and increased the pression on her leg in order to receive an answer from her, but he only obtained a suffocated groan.

Just when things were looking bleak, Jack opened the door and turned on the light of the room. He ran to her friend, took the flashlight from the camp bed and hit Toni's face with it. Their opponent, having lost consciousness, fell to the ground but Jack was red with rage and began to kick him on his right side. "Don't. You. Dare. Touch. Her." Articulated the boy. Every word followed by a blow.

"Stop!" The redhead ordered him. It was clear that Mendez would have not woken up for a bit. "It's enough." She felt guilty for what happened, she did not think things would escalate like that. O' Connor was too angry to feel the remorse but he would, eventually.

As soon as the boy listened to her, Rachel limped towards the door and gestured him to come with her. They were about to go out of the room to help Diana when Anna Goethe jumped from the bed and leaped in front of them with the agility of a lion, preventing them to proceed. "Where are the newcomer's?" She asked with a sour voice.

"What do you care?" Wanted to know Jack, alarmed.

"I have to do what our leader couldn't." She said with flamed eyes.

"What?!" The two friends were wide-eyed in disbelief.

"Tom should do it but he's a coward!" She clarified and threw a glance towards the kid in question, who didn't say anything. "Last year I warned you not to do anything like that but you didn't listen to me. This tradition is important, it makes us stronger!" She sighed. "But you have no backbone, just like Tom, because you don't understand that this matters." Anna looked at her friend, who was sitting on the bottom bed of their bunk bed. "Clara, do you remember Richard and Andrej? They were so intimidating!"

Clara just nodded.

Anna with a head gesture encouraged the girl to get up from the bed to join her. "Ready for round two?" She challenged the two rebels and threw a kick towards Jack's stomach that was swiftly parried by Rachel.

"On board!" Said the redhead, giving Jack the signal to climb on the bunk bed. In the meanwhile she tried to keep the nine year-old girls occupied, warding off their blows. It was impossible for her to counterattack, since the pain in her leg was barely endurable. All she could do was wait until the right moment. Therefore at every kick they threw, she stepped back until they were right under the bunk bed. And that was when Jack jumped on top of Anna, causing her to fall on the ground.

Anna was crying in pain when Jack immobilized her in a choke hold and leveraged on her tiny arm. Rachel, on the other hand, began to throw quick punches in Clara's direction, preventing her to attack Jack and free her mate.

Nevertheless, the unexpected happened: Clara kept her eyes pointed at the redhead but she managed to get close to the boy enough to hit him on the head with her foot. The blow was so hard that he blacked out. Rachel, furious, took a swing at her but her opponent took advantage of that by putting the girl's arm behind her back and pushing her facedown on her bed. She screamed.

Anna stood up. "You're alone, now." She mouthed. Her face was only a few inches apart from Rachel's. "Don't try doing it again." She threatened her and to reinforce the idea she slapped her on the cheek, making her grit her teeth. "I wanna sleep. Tom, call the Corpsman and tell him we have three children that need his help."

* * *

The infirmary was a large room with a dozen beds placed side by side. The white walls gave a feeling of hygiene and sterility. Probably, that was the only place that didn't have something red.

The bulky Corpsman was carrying the unconscious boys on each of his shoulders. He gently laid them down on two adjacent beds. He tucked a long strand of hair behind his ear, opened the cabinet above Jack's bed and took out a syringe filled with a transparent liquid. "This will help him." He revealed, grabbing a tourniquet from the same cabinet and wrapping it around the boy's arm. Only then he could plunge the needle into his vein. A few seconds later he did the same thing to Mendez.

"Why don't you make this tradition stop?!" Asked Rachel, red with anger.

The sound of her voice was heard by someone else in the room.

"We adults have just one job here: train the children so they pass the test. That's all." Answered the man, looking right through her eyes.

"That's insane! You have to do something!"

"Lay down on this bed and let me see you arm and leg." The Corpsman pointed the bed beside Jack.

She yelled this time. "YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!"

"Obey and lay on the damn bed!"

Somebody walked towards them.

"Just do what he says!" Dana begged her friend. On her nose there was a bendage.

"Dana! What happened?" Inquired Rachel, worried.

"Well… I tried to stop the cuts all by myself… and here I am with a broken nose." She noticed Jack. "Who did this to him?" Her voice trembled.

"Anna Goethe. We defeated Toni, but we didn't expect other people to intervene." Rachel took the girl's hand. "We-"

"Lay on the bed and then talk as you want!" Ordered the Corpsman, interrupting her. The redhead obeyed.

"Where has Jack hidden the newcomers?" Asked Dana, rubbing her head.

"Inside a shower." She sighed. "They must be very frightened… and now there's no point in keeping them there… bring them to their room, at least tomorrow morning they'll eat something." Answered Rachel, while the man was checking her leg.

"Anna is going to cut their wrists. You know that right?"

"Yeah. But there's nothing we can do about it…" Admitted the redhead. Her face was wet with tears.


	14. Automatic ball thrower

**Chapter 14 = Automatic ball thrower.**

 **A year later (2163)**

"During these two years, among other things, we've learned how to survive unarmed in a close encounter with Batarians, Elcors and we're going to talk about the Asari. What did you learn in biology class?" Instructor Ericsson introduced the fourth special fight topic to his students.

A boy raised his hand. "They're blue!"

Ericcson giggled. "Well… this is quite obvious. What else?"

"It's an all-female species!" Added the kid.

"It's not completely correct but I understand what you're saying. They're a mono gender species. Someone else?" The Instructor searched with his eyes somebody who knew the answer.

Dana decided to intervene. "They've powers, which are called…. Bio… biotics! And with their mind they can throw people wherever they want!"

"Very good. They can also generate a gravity field that sucks you into it, leaving you floating helplessy and vulnerable to attack." Pointed out the man.

Rachel frowned. "So how do we survive? They seem so strong… too strong. We can't even get close to them!" In her opinion, the Asari were formidable opponents, dangerous almost as Krogans.

Ericcson noticed a hint of worry in Rachel's voice, "First of all, I feel the need to point out that you're still very young and you know very little about the world and the galaxy and how to fight properly. However, I already told you many times that the chances of finding an alien here are basically reduced to zero. Guardian Joy's main goal is to teach you these creatures' weaknesses and what to fear from their strenghts." He paused. He was a bit annoyed, since he had repeated these things countless times. "So don't worry. Once you'll be adults you'll learn some really effective fight methods that will allow you to be competitive against them. Petrini, as for your question I'd say that the first option is to flee. If that wasn't possible, you should dodge her attacks until she's mentally exhausted. Only then you can strike!"

"What if we're unarmed and there are two of them?" Asked Jack, scratching his neck. He was not the type of kid to ask questions, but he really wanted to know.

Ericsson hesitated. "In that case you'll meet the Red Mother…"

The students exchanged alarmed glances to each others.

The instructor placed his open hands in front of his chest with the palms facing the children. "I repeat. Don't worry. Today no asari wants to conquer the Earth, ok?" He said, offering them a convincing look.

The little reds nodded, hesitant.

The man distanced himself from the kids and went beside a weird object, which was composed of two baskets. He lifted it and brought it to the kids. "This is an automatic ball thrower. It throws… balls…" Ericcson shook his head. "As you have already understood the purpose of this object lies in its name…" He said, almost as if he was speaking to himself. Then, he firmly picked up his speech. "We're going to pretend that each ball is a biotic attack. Who wants to begin?" He stared at the students, shrinking his eyes and looking for a volunteer. As soon as he noticed that no one had the intention of going first he chose. "You!" He called pointing his finger towards Rachel. "Petrini, come here!"

"Always me… why…" She muttered and stood up.

"Petrini, place yourself in front of the ball thrower." He ordered but since she was too close to it he made her the gesture to go further away. "Okay, now I activate it. Dodge as many balls as you can!"

The kid hadn't had the time to prepare herself that a ball was flying in her direction. Instinctively, she ducked to the ground and saw the ball darting away above her. She was so focused on her success that when she noticed the second one coming right at her it was too late and it painfully hit her on the leg.

"Don't let that stop you!" The instructor encouraged her.

All her mates were cheering for her, except for Dana, who was praying that her friend didn't end up in the infirmary, as it happened many times before during the fight lesson.

Rachel wanted to make a good impression with every sense of her being so she committed to the task and managed to dodge a dozen of balls, until the eleventh went smashing against her head, throwing her to the ground.

Ericcson turned off the machine. "Okay Petrini. You did good! Don't worry."

Dana ran to help her friend getting up, but on her way back to the group she was stopped by the instructor. "Tickens, since you're already there, it's your turn now!" He said. His finger was ready to push the ball thrower's button.

Dana inhaled deeply and stood into position.


	15. Goodbye

**Chapter 15 = Goodbye.**

 **A year later (2164)**

In was midnight in the eighth room.

A torch lit up the bottom right corner, where the newcomers were sleeping.

Rachel stood up from the camp bed and walked towards them. "I'M NO ONE'S BOSS. IT'S TIME TO NOT BE BRANDED." She shouted, waking everybody up.

The newcomers hugged one another, frightened and blinded by the beam of light.

Jack jumped from his bed and went to turn on the room's light, which enlighted Rachel's wide smile, her stretched arm and open hand. When the seven-year-old boy hesitantly took it she gave him a big hug: it was the symbolic gesture that the tradition that kept going on for decades inside those four walls had finally come to an end. Some weeks before, after completing their tests, Anna Goethe and Clara Yari had been transferred to the Red Een or they had been expelled. Ever since, the atmosphere in the room had been more friendly and relaxed: kids of different ages would chat until very late at night and help each others out more frequently.

The nine-years-old girls remembered Rachel's and Jack's attempt to stop them from being branded so they gave them kiss on the cheek and thanked them for putting an end to that horror. Instead, the eight-year-old kids suffered from the fact that nobody was there for them during the most traumatizing event in their life so they stayed seated on their beds and didn't say anything. However, a slight smile could be seen on their faces from time to time.

"What does that mean?" Asked one of the newcomers, extremely confused.

"Rachel, spe-ech! Spe-ech!" Chanted Jack.

The redhead scratched her neck and cursed his friend with her eyes. Everybody were waiting for her to speak. She cleared her throat and started to explain what the tradition meant and still means in the other rooms: "… some kids think that the cuts help whoever receives it to better deal with difficultes while others believe that it strengthen the person who performs it." She continued "We all have been branded." She showed her right wrist to the newbies. "We all have suffered. So… you're lucky, because you won't know how it feels like to be hurt like that. We tried to solve things earlier but we failed…we couldn't help the kids that came before you. Jack and I will not stay in here much longer and so I hope you'll continue to be friends with each others and… do not listen to the children from the other rooms. You are free and they are not!" She concluded, trying to be as convincing as possible.

Jack mouthed to himself the same words. They had prepared that speech about a month before. The girl was heading towards him when their roommates began to shout rhythmically her name. "Thank you!" She was so embarrassed that her face turned red, almost matching the colour of her hair.

"Let's see how Dana is doing, shall we?" Suggested her friend and put an arm around her shoulders. The redhead nodded and together they went out of their room.

"I'm happy that we finally stopped it! Yes, yes and yes!" He gloated, jumping across the corridor instead of walking.

"It took us three years… that's a lot of time…" There was a hint of sadness in Rachel's voice, which was also trembling a little as she was descending the stairs.

"But we did it and that's all that matters! We changed what no one dared to change in decades!"

"You're right." She smiled. "I hope Dana has managed to break it all alone… or maybe in the fifth room the cuts haven't started yet and we can still help her!" She started to run.

"Cross your fingers, we're about to know!" Answered Jack, keeping up the pace with her.

When the two friends arrived in front of Dana's room no sound or voice could be heard from the outside. However, the light was coming out of under the door gap. The kids were alarmed: something had happened in there.

Rachel slowly opened the door. Her eyes widened in disbelief as soon as she saw what was going on: Dana was sitting on the camp bed, surrounded by students who were smiling at her. Her expression was one of pure joy, partially because she was eating a big slice of pie. As soon as she noticed her two friends she grinned and her eyes sparkled. "Heeey!" She greeted them. Then, she stood up and went to hug them with an arm as the other hand was holding the cake.

"Dana! You did it!" realized Rachel, reciprocating the love she received.

The blondie didn't have the time to answer that Jack intervened: "What is that? Where did you find it?"

Dana laughed weakly. "It a sweet food. The nine-year-old girls have stolen it from the Secretary's office. Do you want a taste?"

Jack nodded quickly, anxious to try it.

"It's a present we did to her to thank her for fighting for us all these years…" A child explained to them.

Rachel frowned. "How did you steal it?"

"Well, that's a secret!"

Rachel avoided asking any more questions, so she began to scrutinize the slice of cake that Jack was biting with a satisfied look on his face. Suddently, she briefly touched it with a finger, leaving her fingerprint on the chocolare icing.

Dana's mouth opened in shock. "DID YOU WASH YOUR HANDS?!"

The redhead shook her head, making Dana sigh in exasperation.

"I'm not the only one! Jack didn't do it either but he's touching it all over!" Protested Rachel.

The blondie paled. "Oh Red Mother…" she took a deep breath. "Jack, stop eating it and let her try it!"

"But that's so good! I can't!"

Dana threw Jack an intimidating look that immediately persuaded him to give the remaining slice to Rachel. As soon as she bite it she blinked. Her eyes spoke of confusion.

"You seem… disgusted! As if you were eating a giant insect!" The blondie was bewildered while Jack couldn't stop laughing.

"It tastes… funny…" She answered, licking her teeth and returning the slice to Dana, who smiled at the thought of finishing it.

"What?! It surely is the most delicious food in the world!" Replied Jack. He couldn't help but walking in circle as he was not used to have a high level of sugar in his blood.

Rachel took her hairband from her wrist and tied back her hair. "Do you want to go on the roof?"

The boy nodded. "it's the last time we can do it, so…yes"" he sadly pointed out.

"Now?! I'm still eating the pie! You keep making me talk!" Said Dana with a muffled voice, since her mouth was full of vanilla sponge.

Rachel giggled. "You got five seconds!"

* * *

"Tonight is full moon!" Observed Jack while he was staring at the dark sky. "Do you think that we'll go up there, sometime?"

The three friends were sitting on the plain roof of the shower's building, which was easily reachable from the ground.

"I'd want to… but only if you're by my side!" Replied Dana, addressing both of them.

"In twenty years' time we'll be driving fast space cars on the sandy surface of the moon and encountering alien life!" Imagined Rachel out loud.

"I can't wait to eat alien cakes!" Jack's eyes were dreaming for a moment. "That's our last day together and then I won't see you two for some months…" A tear fell down his cheek, but Dana swiped it away with her thumb. "And then we'll meet again!" She reassured him.

"Are you afraid of tomorrow's test?" Asked the boy to the girls.

Rachel shrugged. "I don't know what to expect… they didn't tell us anything!"

"I'm terrified… what if I don't pass it? I'll be expelled!" The blondie's hands were shaking at the thought.

"You won't and you can't! That's out of question! You are a tech genius, you'll be at the top of the board!" Said the readhead without any doubt. "None of us will be expelled! We trained so hard to succeed!"

"Yeah but I suck at fighting!" Dana covered her face with her hands.

Rachel's mouth fell. "Has Dana Tickens cursed for the first time in her life?!"

Jack grinned at her remark. "Dana, you got a great ability that no one has… you're worrying for nothing! Do you know what really sucks? The fact that you two get to do the test together only because you were born two months apart, while I have to wait all alone in here!"

"It does suck!" Rachel agreed.

"Suck, suck, suck!" Repeated Dana, happily.

The went on and on until they began shouting that word. It was impressive how they felt relieved.

The redhead smiled watching them unleash their nervousness like that. "You are everything I got. You're my family. We'll be friends until the end, won't we?"

Dana and Jack were shocked in hearing all those words of affection coming out from their friend's mouth. She was not the type of person that was used to express her feelings.

"Only until the end? Won't you be our friend after we die and fight forever alongside the Red Mother?" Joked Dana and hugged her with all her being and so did Jack. They we're unite as one.


	16. The test - Part 1-

**Chapter 16 = The test**

 _Liara: "So… what would you say to your past self?"_

 _Shepard: "Nothing. There's no word that could soothe my pain."_

The children who were born in the first six months of the year 2154 had been grouped in front of the Red Hild's gate. Each one of them was externalizing his or her own nervousness in different ways: there were those who kept scratching their heads and those who couldn't stop moving their feet. However, they all had one thing in common: they were all staring at Guardian Annabelle Joy, who was standing before them. Since it was an extremely important event, the teachers were also present and they were by the Guardian sides.

Joy began her annual speech: "Students, today is a crucial day for your future. Today you'll take your test and if you fail it you'll be expelled from the Tenth Street Reds. There is not a time limit, so you will not be penalized if you take your time. The test is composed of many trials and each one of them has a minimun and maximum score. You have to gain 400 points to be worthy of the Red Mother's grace and therefore join your older mates in the Red Een. It will take place here, in Asheville, and you'll follow one of the three pre-determined tracks. Each track will test you in every subject but to different extents: the yellow track requires agility and technological competencies; the red fighting prowess and the violet theological knowledges. The path is of your choosing, but on they way back you must pursue a different track. You'll take the test one at a time in alphabetical order." She peered at her watch. "The test begins now: five a.m. Thompson, who's first?"

The Secretary was holding a olopad on which there was the list of students. "Martha Brown."

"Brown, you're first! Come here." Annabelle encouraged her. When the girl came close to her, Joy opened the gate with a remote control. "Talk to that man, the Supplier, he will give you the necessary equipment." The kid obeyed and once she went past the gate the Guardian closed it.

In the meanwhile the teachers put headphones on their head.

"Do you think the teachers can help us during the test?" Dana asked her friend. Her voice was trembling.

"Yes, I do… maybe they'll give us some pieces of advice…" Guessed Rachel while she was drying her hands on her t-shirt.

The blondie stopped Rachel from what she was doing and grabbed one of her hand. "We can do it!" She took a deep breath. "Everything's going to be fine!" She tried to convince her friend and herself.

"You have to choose the yellow track! It is suited for you!" Suggested the redhead, looking in her eyes.

Dana made a thoughtful face. "But what should I choose on the way back?"

"Absolutely not the red one." Rachel hugged her. "Dana Tickens isn't afraid of anything! Say it!"

"Nothing scares me!"

"You aren't even scared of rephrasing I see." She observed, smiling.

"You'll take the test before me. As soon as you'll be back you will tell me everything about it, won't you?"

"Of course I will".

* * *

 **Rachel**

5:35 p.m

"Rachel Petrini!" The Secretary called out her name.

Rachel took a deep breath, said good-bye to Dana and approached the Guardian, who opened the gate and closed it behind her.

"Come and choose your equipment!" The Supplier encouraged her. In front of him there were three colored boxes. "Every box contains different objects and all weapons shoot BBs." He explained to her. "In the red box there is an assault rifle, a bulletproof vest and a special thermal vision device. If you wear a bulletproof vest and the enemies hit you in the chest you will not loose any points, there will be no penalty; while the thermal vision device X300 it's the only one that can be used in broad daylight. Is everything clear so far?"

The girl nodded.

"Then I have the yellow box, in which there's a machine gun, a portable ultraviolet lamp and special shoes soles. In the purple box there's the gun, a notebook with useful theological precepts and an olopad." The Supplier looked at her, waiting for an answer.

Rachel had no doubts: "I want the red one."

"Okay." He gave one of the various red boxes to her. "Open it!" He authorized her.

She obeyed and wore the bulletproof vest, the night visor and wielded the rifle.

"You're ready now! Say your name and then you can go!" Concluded the Supplier.

"Rachel Petrini."

"Haima synaptein gnosis, Petrini." Mr. Black greeted her through the headphones. "Which track do you choose?"

The kid returned the salute. Her voice was slightly trembling. "The red one."

"I knew you were brave! The path is all straight, but you'll see some directions painted on the tarmac."

"Roger that."

Rachel followed the main road with a brisk walk. She felt her heart in her throat: she was scared to death of failing but the adrenaline was running in her veins.

She looked around. **_I don't see anyone so far…_**

She arrived to the point where a narrow road united with the main road. She knew where it would lead her as she already went there with Mr. Black and other students. She slowed the pace down: somebody could be hiding in there.

"Well done. I suggest you to look for a cover and study the surrounding area!" Mr Black could see everything she was doing thanks to the microcamera attached to her vest.

Rachel covered behind an old mailbox and activated the thermal visor. From there the narrow street was under her control.

 ** _It seems there's no one there…_** As soon as she thought it a small red dot appeared and it grew larger and larger until it took the form of a person. The opponent quickly crossed the road and grabbed something big.

"I see an enemy at twelve o' clock. Only his legs now… I think he's partially hiding behind something..." The visor made it difficult to fully understand the shape of cold things so she turned it off for a moment and realized that the man was using a trash bin as a shield. He was coming towards her.

Mr. Black didn't say anything.

Rachel leaned to the side of her hiding place and started shooting at his legs. The enemy, after being hit, fell to his knees and pulled the trigger countless times, spraying the mailbox with bullets. Although the girl was in a bad situation, she had an advantage as the man couldn't move. She waited until he needed to reload his rifle to rush to him, kick the bin away and fire at him. He faked his death and dropped to the ground.

"Well done, Petrini. If this had been a real life combat situation he would have been dead. You can breathe now." From his voice it was clear that he was smiling.

 ** _He would have been dead…_** These words were echoing in her head. **_No, nobody will die because of me._** She thought, moving forward on her path.

Soon, her thermal visor reported four enemies in the distance who were running towards square-shaped obstacles, located on the left side of the road and in front of a building.

 ** _I remember this house… I think I can reach the bedroom's window somehow…_** She ran towards it and used its walls to take cover.

She looked around, searching for a foothold but she couldn't find it. She hooked her rifle to her back, stepped back a little, got a running start and with her foot she jumped on the wall and managed to reach the windowsill. She tried to pull herself up using her arms and legs but one hand slipped.

 ** _Damn it, sweaty hands!_**

She dried it on her trousers and tried once more. This time she succeded and entered in the bedroom.

"You remembered what I taught you! Bravo!"

"Thanks!" She said with a heavy breath.

She rushed into the studio that was enlightened by a huge window and kneeled down in front of it. She slightly opened it and put the gun barrel through the opening. The enemies were hiding behind short concrete blocks and were perfectly visible from above. She pointed and shot at each one of them.

She returned to the main road and continued for some time without seeing anyone else. It was the first time that she was walking all alone in the city. She felt finally free: it was a new sensation for her. She deactivated her visor and admired all the colours that surrounded her. Spring was at its most beautiful and aromatic time. On the sides of the street there were awe-inspiring trees and blooming flowers with bees circling around their petals. She could smell the vibrant scent of nature.

"You're enjoing the scenery, aren't you?" Apparently, Mr. Black could read her mind.

"I… ehm… no. Of course no." Denied Rachel, embarrassed.

"Don't worry. I do it too sometimes. I'll put Zimmermann on. He'll be your assistant until you'll reach your destination: the school AB Enka."

"Haima synaptein gnosis, Petrini. From now on the opponents won't be so easy to eliminate. Stay low and move fast!"

The sensation of peace and serenity disappeared in a second and was soon replaced by anxiety and nervousness. "Yes sir."

She reached the part of the town that was skirted by woods on the right side. Having noticed an enemy she decided to take cover behind a huge tree. When she leaned from it to shoot at her target she was hit by a BB on her chest. She crouched down behind the natural column, frightened. Since she couldn't understand who shot her she realized that there was more than one adversary. However, she couldn't see the second one.

"You were hit on your vest. There's no penalty for you. Don't rely too much on your visor. Use your eyes and your senses too."

Rachel followed his suggestion and therefore put her visor on her head.

"Don't stay in the same spot for too long!"

As she rushed behind a smaller tree a blast of bullets almost brushed her back, but that calculated risk made her understand where the second enemy was hiding: he had used as a cover a thick-bark tree that obscured his heat signature from her visor.

 ** _I can do it!_**

She sprinted towards him, using the many trees in order to not be hit by the BBs that were coming at her. Then, she finally arrived in front of the tree behind which the enemy was hiding. However, the man was smart and as soon as he realized where the girl was, he tried to grab her arm. Unfortunately for him, Rachel had threw herself to the ground, slided beside him and shot him several times on his shoulder. She had been to reckless in doing such a thing as a bullet from the other opponent didn't graze her head by an inch.

 ** _Where is he?!_**

"Use your ears! Listen."

She took cover and focused on every possible little noise. If sounds could be described with colours, Rachel was in a white ocean of silence. But suddently, the green crack of a branch spread like waves towards her auditory canal: the adversary was right behind her.

The girl backflipped before he pulled the trigger and she rolled under his legs and-

 _Wrex: Ah Ah! I know where you shot at!_ _Ah ah!_ _It hurts even if they're plastic bullets!_

 _Joker: Don't tell me that he wasn't wearing his jockstrap!_

 _Shepard: Well, yes… but I didn't know it when I was little!_ _So he…_

He smiled at her because his groin was well protected. He grabbed her by the vest and lifted her from the ground with her rifle hanging from her neck. She was doomed.

He carefully covered with his finger the microcamera attached to her vest as well as the speaker holes. "I don't want Zimmermann to listen. You're skilled and want to help you in succeeding." He whispered. "Puch me on the cheek!"

Rachel was wide-eyed.

"Punch me!" He insisted.

The girl obeyed and landed him a punch on the right cheek. He let go of her and began to simulate the pain: "Oh my cheekbone." He said through gritted teeth.

Rachel raised her rifle and shoot him once.

Before he fell to the ground he gave her a big smile.


	17. The test - Part 2 -

**Chapter 17 = The test – Part 2 –**

Rachel arrived at the parking lot of AB Enka Technical Institute.

"Your mission is to gain access to the science lab and retrieve the book "New World Science" by Albert Smith, written in 2099."

"Roger that."

She hid behind the closest vehicle - a truck – and tried to spot all of her enemies. There were three of them and they were patrolling the same areas over and over again. She studied their movements for a couple of minutes and thought of a plan.

 ** _I can shoot at the guy scouting the whole perimeter of the parking lot… he stops in front of ths truck every minute… he won't be difficult to eliminate._**

She placed her weapon between the truck and its trailer and pulled the trigger at the right time, putting the man out of the game. As she anticipated, it drew the attention of the other two opponents. Fortunately, they hadn't understood where she was hiding but they were coming close to her, very close.

Her heart was racing and a vein in her temple was throbbing.

"Check that truck, I cover you!" One guard told the other.

She crawled under the huge vehicle, but her right foot brushed an empty plastic bottle, making it roll a little further away from her. **_Mmm.. I can throw it far from here to distract them!_** She thought.

She rotated her body until she could reach the bottle and then she put the neck of the bottle towards the barrel of her rifle. The BB she shot entered the bottle and pushed it to the other side of the parking lot. The enemies didn't see where it came from but they only heard the thud as it hit a car wheel.

The man who was intent in sweeping the area around the truck walked away from her and went beside the plastic bottle. "There's nothing here." He informed his colleague.

"Got it. Keep sweeping around, I'm gonna check the school entrance."

As soon the guard near the car was left alone, Rachel quickly got out from her under the truck and shot him in the back, but he didn't fall down.

 ** _What?!_**

"I'm wearing a bulletproof vest, my dear." Before finishing the sentence he started blasting BBs.

Rachel immediately threw herself to the ground and crawled behind the car. In the heat of the moment she didn't feel that a BB hit her left leg.

"Leg!" Shouted her enemy, laughing.

"Minus fifty points, Petrini." Zimmermann told her.

 ** _Son of a gun!_** Cursed the kid inside her mind.

The opponent began to circle around the car. Another turn and he would reach her and trap her.

 ** _I have to pass the test, I have to pass the test, I have to pass the test…_**

When she started to panic, fate helped her out: tha car door was open. She got inside the car and slammed the door shut. Countless BBs smashed against the window.

She had a resiliant survive instinct, as if she was programmed to live.

She took off her bulletproof vest and covered the car window with it. Then she placed her gun barrel in the only exposed part. She turned the crank handle until the window was sufficiently lowered. She pulled the trigger. The man had never seen anyone doing something like that and he was so baffled that it took him some time to fall down.

She got out of the car. "Take that you little krogan ball!" She activated the visor once again. She spotted the last enemy behind a car located near the entrance. His legs were visible under the vehicle.

She silently walked towards him, jumped on the car hood and was about to shoot when she realized he was already "death".

 ** _Oh. Oh._**

"Surprise!" The last enemy suddenly appeared in front of her and hit her head with the butt of his rifle, which was coated with foam in order not to hurt her.

Rachel frowned in a worried way. She didn't know what to do.

"Now it's your turn to play to role of an uncounscious girl." The adult explained to her. Then he tied her up, pulled the end of the rope, making her drop to the ground and he dragged her to the entrance. As much as her body was hurting from scraping against the tarmac she couldn't help but thinking how many points she was going to lose. While she was being hauled, one of the guard she had put out of the game opened his eyes and waved his hand to her, but before the kid could greet him back, he let his arms go lax like a marionette without his puppeteer.


	18. The Test - Part 3 -

**Chapter 18 = The test – Part 3 –**

An intense odor of incense completely numbed her sense of smell.

"You can open your eyes, now."

An intermittent and blinding red light surrounded her. She couldn't see the walls of the room she was in.

She was tied on a wooden chair and next to her a statue of the Red Mother was rising from the floor.

Her headphones had been replaced by earbuds and the static voice of the Monk came out of them. "Haima Synaptein Gnosis. In what year did the founder Andrew McStrovar kill his dissident brother?" She paused. "Before answering, I warn you that you only have three guesses because you have been captured. If you fail all of them you'll be expelled from our Institution."

Rachel paled. Doctrine and Law was not her favorite subject at all.

 ** _I'm screwed_**. She thought. **_So… The Tenth Street Reds were founded in 1074 and McStrovar died young, precisely in 1102. There are 28 numbers in the middle…. Damn it! Why can't I have 28 guesses?!_**

"So?" The Monk urged her.

"1085" Answered the kid. She could hardly breathe.

"Wrong."

Rachel sighed. "1088"

"Wrong. Are you going to disappoint me, Petrini?"

She ran out of hope. **_You're not the only one I'm going to let down…"_** She closed her eyes and prayed for a stroke of luck. "1090." She finally said.

Silence.

"Correct. Now free yourself and drink from the Mother, she'll give you the strength to face the remaining part of the test."

The kid wrestled against the rope that was constricting her body. It was too tight. She tried to move forward, in search of something that could free her but the chair was too heavy. She was trapped.

The feeble and unsettling light did little to calm her down. She was definitely starting to panic. Drops of sweat were falling from her forehead.

 ** _"_** ** _There must be a way out of this."_** She thought. In that precise moment she saw a knife in one of the Mother's hand. However, it was unreachable.

There was something unusual about the statue but Rachel couldn't figure out what. **_"Wait. Why does she hold a knife?"_**

"Hormao." Solemnly said the girl. Hormao was the Greek word for hormone, which was the name of the small metal square the Red Mother is always depicted holding in one of her hands.

The statue rotated and slided towards Rachel, dropping the blade to the ground.

The kid psychologically prepared herself to throw herself to the ground. When she did it, her shoulder was hit so hard on the floor that some tears escaped from her eyes. She crawled and grabbed the knife with her mouth. She curled up and carefully placed the blade on the rope on her right hand. Then, she carefully slided it forward and backward for almost ten stressful minutes, until the cord was cut. Having her right hand free, she could easily untie her other limbs.

Finally back on her feet, Rachel touched and examined every inch of the statue, looking for an opening of some sort. Instead, she found a button and, once she pressed it, a needle came out from under it and stung her finger. Afterward the statue began dripping blood from its eyes.

"Drink it." Ordered the Monk through the comms.

The girl knew it was human blood. There were some rumors spread by the children about its nature: it was thought that worthy heroes and champions donated some of their precious vital fluid to give strength to the following generations. Rachel liked to believe that story. She cupped her hands directly under the source of blood and drank it with reverence to honor the Mother. It was the first time she did it and somehow she felt her energy restored. Subsequently, she heard a door unlocking. She opened it and realized she was inside AB Enka school, in one of its corridors. **_"So that's how abandoned schools look like…"_**

The test's final locations were the only places in the Reds' territory that had never been visited by the children during their expeditions with Mr. Black. There was nothing out of the ordinary in that building, there were only cracks in the wall and dust and webs covering every little corner.

All of a sudden she spotted a hairy spider on the wall beside her. **_"Oh my Mother! It's so freaking beautiful!"_** She was about to delicately touch it with her finger when she glimpsed out of the corner of her eye a man charging in her direction. She instantly jumped backwards, dodging him by a nose.

"Haima Synaptein Gnosis, Petrini. Fight him!" Ericcson greeted her via earbuds.

She put herself in a fighting position and her opponent did the same. They circled each other for some time, waiting for the exact moment to attack. Her enemy threw a kick towards her face, but she ducked fast enough to dodge it. Then, she placed a hand on the floor and once his foot was down she kicked him on his tibias. She took advantage of her opponent temporary incapacity to stand up and throw him on the ground by grabbing his calves and charging him. Once she was sitting on his chest she started to fake punch him in the face.

"Good work! That's enough, say the word "lixi" and stop." From the tone of his voice, Rachel could easily understand that he was genuinely impressed by her performance.

"Lixi!" Announced the girl, panting, and stood up from the man, who bowed her head and gave her a lock-pick.

"I love when my students fight dirty! I have to go, I'll leave you to Tech Winston!"

Haima Synaptein Gnosis. Guess what? Go to the end of the corridor and open the door."

 ** _I'll die for a glass of water…_** She was exhausted.

When she reached the door she read the sign "open me!". She had to get past two security systems: a keypad and a lock. In a matter of minutes she managed to crack open the door and find the mission's objective: the New World Science book.

"I suggest you to start running." The Tech said.

Rachel's face was frantic. "What? Why?!"

She heard quick steps, one after the other. She couldn't understand where they came from.

"You better hurry!" The Tech urged her.

She gathered the little amount of energy she had left and ran like hell.


	19. The test - Final part -

**Chapter 19 = The test – Final part –**

 **Dana**

 **1:12 a.m.**

"So, which box do you choose?"

"Can you remind me what's inside the yellow one?" Asked Dana, slightly embarrassed.

"A machine gun, a portable ultraviolet lamp and a pair of special shoes soles."

"Ok, I'll take it." Answered the kid, nervously rubbing her right arm.

The Supplier opened the yellow box and grabbed each object and gave it to the child. "Wait." He walked some meters away to get hold of a backpack and returned to Dana. "Here you can put your ultraviolet lamp."

"Thanks!" She put the backpack on her shoulders, the machine gun's strap around her neck and the soles in her shoes.

"Now take these earbuds and hook this microcamera on your shirt."

The kid obeyed and carefully put everything in place.

"You're ready. Say your name and go to the left!"

She nodded. "Dana Tickens."

"Haima synptein gnosis, Tickens." Mr. Black's voice sounded particularly optimistic.

Dana greeted him back. She was shaking. If she had been a bit more worried, she would have started to panic and make incorrigible mistakes. **_I can't let this happen!_** She thought.

"Which track do you choose?"  
"The yellow one." She was walking down the road with her weapon drawn, looking for any movement in the surrounding area. However, everything was still.

"The very first part of the test is the same for everyone. I'll tell you which way to go once you'll reach the fork in the road." Said Mr. Black.

Suddenly, she noticed that the main road joined with a narrow back street.

"Slow down and stay sharp!" Mr. Black warned her.

From his words she realized that someone had to be hiding there. She crossed the main road and took cover behind a wall that faced the back street. She felt her blood throbbing in her head, but she was determined to successfully finish the test.

She ran and then did a somersault to the other side of the side street to draw the enemy into the open. Her plan worked, since her opponent came out of his cover located at the end of the street and began sprinting towards her as soon as he saw her. She leaned from the wall and shot him in the chest. **_Oh yeah!_**

"Well done, Tickens!"

She proceeded for quite some time until she recognized one of the houses that she had perlustrated with Mr. Black and her peers. Nonetheless, she couldn't find any reason to enter it and so she went straight on.

In front of the house there was a large tarmac area, above which there were several concrete blocks.

 ** _Maybe there are enemies hiding behind them._** She thought.

She ran towards the first block and reached it by doing a neat slide. She had just the time to take cover behind it that a blast of bullets started flying over her head. Judging by the quantity of BBs shot, there was more than one opponent.

 ** _I guess it has been huge mistake coming here._**

As soon as the enemies needed to reload their weapons, Dana leaned from her block and shot at an exposed man right in front of her. However, he returned the favor, hitting her on the chest.

"Chest. Minus 50 points."

Dozens of bullets resumed their journey towards her, with the goal of making her loose more and more points. Luckily, she had ducked in time and she was now well covered. As soon as the blast ended she sprinted to the adjacent block and then to another one. She was closer to the enemies, but she didn't want to rush things so she patiently waited for the right moment. However, she didn't know that they decided to take the challenge to the next level and so they began to take turns in shooting. **_Oh, these pieces of sheet!_** She refrained to be vulgar even in her own mind. The kid raised her machine gun over her head and blasted in every direction. Only her hands were visible. She heard a man fake a moan of pain and subsequently the thud of his body hitting the ground.

She briefly leaned her head over the top of her block and threw a quick glance around her. She stopped breathing when she saw a man jumping on her block with his rifle drawn towards her. She didn't have enough time to shoot him, so she instinctively shielded her face with her left arm, where she was hit, while raising her armed limb and shooting at this leg. The enemy keeled over her with his "dead" weight, unwillingly protecting her from an incoming BB. She was on the ground. Her back was hurting like hell. She tried to wriggle out from underneath the man, but the last opponent was heading in her direction. She managed to free her right arm and a few moments later she shot at his head. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Arm. Minus 50 points." Declared Mr. Black. "Not bad!"

"Did Petrini break into the house?" She asked, breathing heavy.

"Yes. She did."

"I imagined so." She grinned.

* * *

Dana's following challenge was one of ability.

Log of different heights stood up from the ground, they were close enough to each others to be reachable with a jump.

"Many have failed here." Warned Mr. Black.

The kid stretched her leg. "I won't. I'll beat it for sure!" She hoped she was right or she would drown in a sea of embarrassment.

She jumped on the first log, which was the shorter, and successfully managed to leap on the second one and on the third. Before her, there was the fourth and tallest log of all the challenge. She rubbed her hands together and braced herself for the jump. When she was in mid-air she widened her legs and positioned her straight arms in the direction of the log. She touched the wood and pushed her body towards the fifth log and after a flip she landed on her feet.

Mr Black didn't say anything, but she heard his hands clapping through her earbuds.

* * *

Dana arrived at the end of the yellow path. The post office was now in front of her. It was a large brick building with two columns on the sides of the front door. She was amazed by the look of it as she was so accustomed to concrete buildings and wooden houses.

She lowered the door's handle and pulled. It was locked. There wasn't a keypad but only an old-fashioned lock.

 ** _Maybe the key has been hidden here somewhere._**

She went around the postal office, searching for the key. Instead she found on the wall a patten of protruding bricks leading to the second floor window. She followed her instinct and started to climb the wall, then she pushed the window open with her left hand and lifted all her body through the opening. She was finally inside. She stood up and dusted off her clothes. Although the building seemed in impeccable conditions from the outside, it had been abandoned for a very long time, since Dana had to proceed by avoiding herbaceous plants coming up from the ground. Nature had cracked tiles and covered the walls with ivy. Aside from that, there were also humans' creations such as a broken register, a robust desk and a locked door. She grabbed the ultraviolet lamp and enlightened the keypad. She grinned when she saw fingerprints on three numbers. After several attempts she unlocked the door.

Before her there was a staircase that ended with another locked door, but its security system was different from the previous, it needed an handprint. The screen glowed red when she tried to put her hand on the biometric scan.

 ** _It would have been too easy… but there's no one else in here! How am I supposed to open it?_** She couldn't finish her thought that she heard some steps in the room above. She rapidly went upstairs with her machine gun drawn, ready to fire at the first sight of movement. It wasn't a muscular man in fighting clothes or a slim and agile shooter, but a frightened woman in a formal outfit. Dana was slightly taken aback, indecisive to pull the trigger.

Mr. Black explained: "She's an actress. The choice is yours: you can shoot her or persuade her to help you."

 ** _An actress? Wow. I wonder if she also deceives people in real life situations…_**

Dana pointed her weapon at her. "Help me or you'll die!"

The actress' facial expression was one of despair. "No, please! I don't wanna die! I'm just a postal clerk! I don't know anything!"

"Isn't your dress excessively formal for a simple clerk?" The kid frowned.

 ** _Or maybe they all dressed like that… I barely know what is a postal office… they should have told us more about the jobs of the old world!_**

"Yes, you're right, I'm the coordinator of the clerks that work here, but nothing more! I'm not an important person at all!" Declared the woman in a melodramatic tone.

 ** _I'd totally watch her movies._** Dana grinned. "Come down the stairs!" She ordered.

The woman slowly descended the stairs and stopped in front of the locked door.

"Put you right hand on the screen!"

The actress obeyed. However, the screen of the security system glowed red. Error.

Dana was stunned. "Try with your left one!"

Error.

 ** _What's her purpose here?_**

"I told you, I'm just a simple worker!"

Dana sat on a step and started to think. Around five minutes passed before she noticed that the pocket of the actress' jacket was particularly bulging. "Empty your pockets!"

The woman put her hand inside her left pocket and produced a Magnum.

The girl's eyes widened. "Holy cow! A simple clerk, ah?"

"I prefer to be always prepared in case of incoveniences. By the way, this is real but don't worry, it has the safety on." Her voice changed as she was not acting.

"I see." Dana was really impressed by the adult in front of her. "What about the right pocket?"

The actress smiled and took out from her right pocket a solid rubber hand, which was covered in sensors. She placed the hand on the screen and the door opened. "Good word, kid! Now you have to retrieve a letter that is addressed to Jon Thyme from the next room. Now I can go and wait for the next kid to enter this building. I wish you luck, goodbye!" She walked up the stairs and passed next to Dana.

"Wait!" The girl stopped her by delicately touching her arm. "Are you really an actress? Is it your everyday job?"

"Actress is the informal word for Face." She answered, visibly pleased that the kid was interested in her job.

"The Faces are those who change their physical appearance, aren't they?"

"Yes, my colleagues and I have submitted to plastic surgery to completely change our face, hence the name Face."

"How many times?"

"A lot. I don't even remember the face I was born with."

"Cool! How can I become a Face?"

"it's a really long path but you can start your specialisation at the Red Ult, when you'll be 18 years old."

"Wow..."

"Now I really need to go and you need to finish your test." The woman waved her hand, climbed the last steps and disappeared.

* * *

 **Half an hour later.**

Dana was returning to the Red Hild and was walking on the street that skirted the woods. Through her earbuds the Monk had been asking her questions of doctrine for a few minutes.

She had almost completed her test. She was happy. She would have brought home a great score and would have gone to the Ren Een with Rachel. Moreover, in a few months' time Jack would have joined them and the trio would have been complete.

 ** _Everything's going perf…_** Her thought was suddenly interrupted by the sight of a sick man coming out of the woods.

Dana froze.

 ** _Another actor?_**

The Monk was disgusted. "This is inacceptable. How come that filth arrived here?! Tickens, beat him up, so he'll never come into our territory again!"

"Filth?! He's a human being." The kid talked back, astonished by her teacher's comment.

"He's not worthy of walking on the Red Mother's ground. I said: give him a lesson!"

Dana didn't have a choice and so she assumed a fighting position. However, as soon as the man noticed that she was in an offensive posture, he stopped walking and started to worryingly wave his hands. "Please, I don't wanna hurt you. I'm just very hungry… do you have something to eat?"

"He's lying to you! Don't believe him!" Commented the Monk.

 ** _He's bone and skin… I don't think he's lying!_** The kid thought, then asked: "Who are you? A Blue Templar? A White Rose?!" She couldn't let her guard down.

The stranger rubbed his hairless head. "No no, I was a Red just like you."

In the wake of his revelation, Dana's world crumbled down on her. "You said _was_. Did they kick you out? That's why you're like this?"

"No, I… I passed the test, but then I escaped… I escaped from those monsters!"

"Monsters? Do you mean the Reds?" Dana was terrified by his possibile answer. Was she a monster, too?

The Monk urged the girl to take action. "Tickens, obey!" but the girl totally ignored her. She wanted to know the truth.

"Yes, the Reds. They are very dangerous and they don't have any scruple." The man kneeled down. "Please, do you have something to eat?" He begged her.

"I don't have any food… I'm sorry…" She initially said, but when she saw the hopeless face of the stranger, her heart broke into millions of pieces. "… I have this ultraviolet lamp, you can sell it and buy something to eat." Dana took off her backpack and offered it to the man.

"Thank you so much! I owe you my life!" He was so grateful that he hugged her before walking away.

"Are you crazy?!" The Monk was furious. "You have a 150 points penalty if you don't take it back!"

Dana grabbed the man's arm. "Run as fast as you can!" She noticed some armed soldiers coming towards them.

The man started to rapidly move his scrawny legs.

One of the soldier sprinted and managed to move closer. He immediately set aside his BB-shooting weapon and grabbed his real rifle. He took aim, while he was still running, and shot.

"NO!" Shouted Dana, but it was too late. The bullet had already pierced the stranger's back and he dropped dead to the ground.

"NOOO!" Dana screamed with all the breath she had in her lungs and ran towards him. She bent down and caressed his yellowish face. She suppressed a whine and cried. She only wanted to help him. She looked at the soldier with a disgusted grin on her face. "WHY DID YOU DO IT?! YOU ARE AN ASSASSIN!" She shrieked. Then, she said with a barely udible voice: "He was harmless…"

Dana's face was covered in tears. She had realized something very important: the stranger was right. The Reds are monsters.

"Shout up, kid. I did what I had to. He was a parasite of society." The soldier stated.

The Monk ordered: "A parasite, indeed. Continue your test, maybe you'll manage to regain some points, even if I don't know if you deserve it, your actions have been despicable."

Dana was furios. Her life had been a lie. Althought the reds had filled her head with their rules and values, her heart was still good and able to recognize the difference between good and evil. "You can stick your test up your…!" She declared with a broken voice. Then, she removed the microcamera from her shirt as well as the earbuds and smashed them to the ground. She was done obeying orders.

* * *

 **2.20 a.m**

"Dana, what's the matter? Please talk to me…" Rachel begged her. Dana had been silent since she returned to the Red Hild. Her gaze was totally dull.

The blondie's lips trembled and her mouth opened up a little as if she wanted to speak, but nothing came out.

Rachel delicately took her hand. "Hey, look at me." Her voice was soothing.

Dana's eyes met hers.

"I don't know what happened but, if they dare to expel you, I won't leave you alone. I'll come with you, wherever that is." In the redhead's voice there was no hint of doubt.

"No! I can't ask you to do such a thing!"

"You don't need to ask. I've known you for all my life and you're my dearest friend… a sister. We'll be together forever." Rachel hugged her tightly and kissed her on her cheek.

Dana's composure dissolved as a river of tears escaped her eyes. "Th-they killed a man…" She said through a hiccup.

"…what are you talking about?"

Dana placed her right ear on her friend's chest so that she could listen to her heartbeat. She always did when she was worried. It calmed her down. "A factionless man came out of the woods while I was doing the test and asked for my help." She breathed deeply. " He only wanted some food… he was starving… he told me things… terrible things about the Reds and he was right."

"How so?"

"I gave him the ultraviolet lamp so he could sell it and buy something to eat but the Reds killed him without mercy!" She hiccupped convulsively. "They shot at this back when he was running away… the Reds are monsters… cruel killers! Are we monsters, too?"

Rachel caressed her back. "No, we aren't. We stopped the wrists' cut, remember? We're good kids."

"I hope we'll stay good forever…" Dana wiped away her tears.

"Yes, forever."

* * *

 **4:50 p.m**

All the kids had finished the test. Almost a day had passed. They were grouped in two rows in front of the Guardian, the Secretary and the teachers. Soon, they would have discovered their fate.

Guardian Annabelle Joy was holding an olopad, in which there was the list of those who failed the test. "Students, this is the moment of truth. Twenty-three of you got tested today." She paused. "Seven have failed. Now, I'll call the names of those who will be expelled. If you hear your name you have to take ten steps forward."

She read the list:

"Lucas Smith, 190 points.

Andre Ducas, 250 points

Francesca Racchetti, 290 points.

Igor Mikachov, 320 points.

Hilda Meyer, 330 points.

Rick Black, 335 points.

Thompson, what have you written here? I can't read it!" Asked the Guardian, annoyed.

Dana painfully squeezed Rachel's hand. Her stomach hurt and her heart was racing inside her chest. She felt her head spinning. She was about to faint.

The Secretary whispered the unreadable name to Annabelle's ear. He loved olopad's apps where he could handwrite things, even if he didn't have a good penmanship.

The Guardian shook her head. "The last name is…" She thoroughly looked at the kids. "Dana Tickens, 350 points."

Dana's heart stopped. She couldn't breathe.

Rachel was petrified.

"Tickens, what are you waiting for? Ten steps forward!" The Guardian ordered.

Dana was about to move forward when Rachel grabbed her arm. "If she's expelled, I want to be expelled too."

"You can't be expelled. You passed the test." Annabelle sentenced.

Dana persuaded her friend to let her go. "It's ok. Really." Then, she reached the others that had failed the test.

"Tickens performance was great. You want her out of here only because she knows the truth!" Rachel desperately retorted.

"And what would the truth be? Let's hear it." The Guardian grinned.

"You killed a man in cold blood!"

The children gasped.

"Oh, what a terrible thing!" The Guardian sarcastically remarked. Subsequently, she pulled out from her pocket a gun and pointed it at Dana's head. The kid paled and started to furiously tremble.

Rachel couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her blood froze in her veins. It was like the earth had suddenly disappeared from beneath her feet. Dana's terrified look revealed her frail vulnerability and her blind fear. "NO! Please, don't hurt her! She's a true believer, a faithful daughter of the Red Mother! She won't make the same mistake again. Please, spare her! She'll kill, she'll kill… I promise you!"

Dana knew what was about to happen. She mouthed "I love you" to Rachel, but she didn't see it.

"Reds never beg and never disobey." The Guardian pulled the trigger.

The bullet pierced right through Dana's skull, scattering chunks of brain all over the child next to her, who fainted. The girl's lifeless body hit the ground and was soon surrounded by a pool of blood.

Rachel tried to scream but she didn't make any sound. She threw up again and again. She wanted it to be a dream, a stupid nightmare and she almost convinced herself of that. She closed her eyes in order to reopen them when she would have woken up.

"Don't blame yourself Petrini, I'm not doing this for the things you said, it's the procedure."

"it's a dream, it's a dream, it's a dream." Rachel kept repeating it in her mind, until she heard six gunshots and screams and thuds. Her head was bowed to the ground when she opened her eyes. A thick stream of blood was flowing towards her shoes. She took a step back and raised her head: those who failed the test were now corpses.

It was not a dream.

She ran to Dana and hugged her, smearing her clothes with blood. "Dana, This can't be real. It can't be!" She rocked back and forth. "You'll be good forever…"

Guardian Annabelle Joy put away the gun. "Thompson, pull away the children from the dead ones."

The Secretary obeyed and pulled Rachel away from Dana. "No, I want to stay with her! NOOO! Let me go!"

Annabelle Joy placed herself in front of Rachel. "Do you remember when your friend asked if the blood inside the Red Mother's statue was human? Now you know where it comes from." Her words gave Rachel the final blow. Her brain decided to shut down and make her pass out.

The Secretary layed Rachel on the ground, then he fetched a wheelbarrow and crammed the dead bodies on it. A tear went down his cheek.


	20. Dana Tickens and the cornfield

Author note: Hello people! :) I just wanted to thank every single one of you for reading my story. I'm glad that I'm sharing with you this idea of mine and I wanted to point out the difficulty of writing Dana's death. I felt a knot in my stomach while I was typing on the keypad for two reasons: the cruelty of the death and the age of the victim. Although it was a necessary choice, (and I don't regret it) it's really impressive how a fictional character that I've created has grown on me so much.

* * *

 **Chapter 20 = Dana Tickens and the cornfield.**

 _"_ _An entrance." Murmured Rachel under her breath._

 _A large cornfield was enclosed by a tall iron fence, which was supposed to protect the crop from outsiders. The kid stood in front of the open gate. "_ _ **It's the only way."**_ _She thought as she was surrounded by darkness in any other direction._

 _Cawing ravens were circling above her head. "_ _ **I hope they don't shit on me!"**_ _She smirked. Although that place made her skin cringe, she put on a brave face and entered the field. There were not footpaths that led the way, so she walked through the corn mazes, stepping on their tiny and short roots that were visible above the ground. The sun was so hot that she felt her head burning and her steps heavy with fatigue. She was drying the sweat from her forehead with her shirt when she heard a "sploosh"._

 _She stopped her movements and stood still, until she took courage and looked at her feet._

 _Blood._

 _Thick red blood was drenching the ground, leaving a precise trail that Rachel could easily follow._

 _"_ _Listen to me, blood! I've got no intention of finding your source, understood?! What is it? A dead animal? A raven? A rabbit?" She scolded the vital fluid like it could hear her. The sun was driving her crazy._

 _"_ _Follow the blood, Rach!" Dana's voice came from a little farther off._

 _"_ _DANA! IS IT YOU?!" Shouted Rachel. "ARE YOU HURT?"_

 _"_ _Yes! No, I'm ok. It's not my blood! By the way, there's no need to shout!"_

 _Rachel hesitantly proceeded forward. Her every step was accompanied by the squelching sound of the wet soil. She went on for quite some time, making her way through the tall plants, until she reached a passage and then an oval open space, in which the broken stalks were lying flattened on the ground. Dana was sitting in the middle of this area, busy tearing the red grains apart from a corncob that was spilling blood at each bite._

 _"_ _What the…?!" Rachel was wide-eyed._

 _Dana raised her head. "Hi, Rachy! Come here and taste this delicious gift from the Red Mother!"_

 _The redhead carefully came closer to her. "Is it bleeding?" She frowned, confused. "Where are we?"_

 _Dana creepily smiled. "We are in your dream." She stopped a moment to crunch the grains. "You have a very vivid imagination!"_

 _"_ _A dream? It's not possible! I'm sweating and I can feel the heat of the sun on my skin!"_

 _"_ _Don't tell me you believe in the existence of bleeding corns!"_

 _"_ _Maybe we are in an alien world!"_

 _Dana shook her head. "Even if that's the case, I'm totally sure I wouldn't eat these things!" She licked her lips. "See? I'm not in control of my own body because I'm in your mind!"_

 _Rachel sat beside her friend. "It does make sense... Well, it could've been a lot worse. Apart from those scary ravens and the freaking sun!"_

 _Dana looked at her with a pleading stare. "Now can you please make me stop?" She asked with her mouth full._

 _"_ _How?"_

 _"_ _I don't know! Think of me doing something else!"_

 _Rachel closed her eyes and focused, only to reopen them a few seconds later._

 _Dana sighed while she continued crunching the food. "I give you an A for the effort. Anyhow… have you noticed that we're inside a crop circle?"_

 _"_ _How do you know?"_

 _"_ _I just do. Salarians have very strange shaped spaceship." Dana commented thoughtfully._

 _"_ _They're more creative than I do!"_

 _Dana giggled. "Make some aliens appear! I want to see them!"_

 _"_ _Yes, ma'am! I'll try!" She focused with all her being and pictured in her head every anatomic detail of a salarian. "It will work this time!"_

 _"_ _Go girl!"_

 _Suddenly, the two girls saw the mazes' stalks move. Somebody was in there._

 _Rachel's and Dana's eyes sparkled with joy. "It must be a salarian!"_

 _The blondie started jumping in excitement. "Oh Mother, I'm gonna see an alien! Woo-hooo!" She blinked. "Wait, I'm not eating that corncob anymore! Yes!" She jumped higher._

 _However, their expectations crumbled. The one who entered the dream had a human form, it was a brunette girl to be precise._

 _Rachel was baffled. "Wait. I know her. She's Clara Yari."_

 _"_ _Who?" Asked Dana with a puzzled face._

 _"_ _I already told you about her. She sleeps in the same room as I… Jack and I had to fight her in order to stop the wrists' cuts but she was too strong for us."_

 _"_ _Mmm… yes. I remember her now. You obviously don't have any control over this dream.."The blondie reprimanded her. "I wanted to see a salarian…" her lips curled._

 _Clara stopped at the border of the crop circle and shouted her roommate's name." HEY, ELLIE RACHEL!"_

 _The two friends exchanged looks, then the redhead corrected her rival. "it's just Rachel!"_

 _"_ _I have to say that Ellie Rachel suits you." Whispered Dana. "It has a good ring to it."_

 _In the meanwhile, Clara had resumed her walk towards them. "Whatever, it's not important. The only thing that matters is your intelligence, your resolve and your courage."_

 _Rachel had never before heard her voice and listened to her talk, in fact she had always thought that she was mute. When Clara came close to her, Rachel instinctly assumed a fighting position, only to calm down once she realised that she meant no harm._

 _"_ _We must join forces, Just Rachel." Clara grinned and firmly hugged her._

 _Rachel arms were stiff._ _ **"This is the weirdest dream of all."**_ She thought.

Every year of her life, Shepard would revisit that and a few other dreams to analyse them like they were a box full of mysteries. Her mysteries. She was of the idea that dreams can be as significant as any other life experience, because they allow hidden truths and memories that lie in the deepest layers of the subconsciuos to come to the surface without actually waking the sleeping brain. Nonetheless, the realization of their importance would come only in a second moment, since they seem so irrelevant after the awakening.

 _As soon as Rachel distanced herself from Clara, she felt a painful sensation on the side of her neck. She touched it and winced: her fingers were smeared in blood._

 **"** ** _it's just a dream…"_** _She thought._

It was. However, reality was far worse.

She woke up screaming and pulled herself in a sitting position, panting. She brushed her neck and it hurt like in the dream, except for the fact that there was no blood. She looked around in a panicky way: she was on the bottom of a bunk bed inside a very small room with concrete white walls. Moreover, instead of a door there were metal bars that overlooked a long corridor and cells on the other side. She jumped on the floor and clenched the bars.

 ** _Where am I?_** Her head was spinning. Then, a flicker in her mind. **_"Where's Dana?"_**

The memories of the test were all gone.

"What's this, a prison?!" She shouted facing the corridor, scared.

"No, it's not." A voice came from the top bed. "It's the Red Een, welcome to your new room."

Rachel turned her head and pouted her lips. "Clara Yari."


	21. Clara Yari

Author note: Sorry for the long pause, exams were keeping me busy. Fortunately, I've passed all of them so I'm still alive.

* * *

 **C** **hapter 21 = Clara Yari**

 ** _Where am I?_** Her head was spinning. Then, a flicker in her mind. **_"Where's Dana?"_**

The memories of the test were all gone.

"What's this, a prison?!" She shouted facing the corridor, scared.

"No, it's not." A voice came from the top bed. "It's the Red Een, welcome to your new room."

Rachel turned her head and pouted her lips. "Clara Yari."

The brunette, who was sitting on the top bed, nodded her head. "So… you remember me." She smirked and blinked an eye.

"Yes, unfortunately." Rachel said, annoyed. "Have you seen Dana Tickens? She's done the test with me."

Yari scrutinized the redhead's worried expression with her big brown eyes. "Who's Dana?" She got off the bed and approached her.

"She used to sleep in the fifth room… she was always with me during daytime activities."

"I don't know who you were friends with outside the eighth room. There were too many children and I simply didn't give a damn about most of them." Clara abruptly said. However, when she saw Rachel's eyes darken, she added. "Has she passed the test?"

"I… I don't remember…"

"If she has passed it, she'll be here… somewhere."

Rachel massaged her aching neck. "I mean… she's agile and smart. I'm sure she has passed it…. Why can't I remember anything about it?"

"It's quite normal, actually. Most children faint after the test… Michail Weyn is the only person I know that has endured the shock. Well, in his own way…"

"Have I lost consciousness too?" The redhead was baffled. "Wait… Michail Weyn is here?!"

Clara put her hands in front of her chest, showing Rachel her palms. "Wow, calm down! I can't answer so many questions this early in the morning. Let's eat breakfast first."

A fit of rage clouded Rachel's judgement and she violently grabbed Yari by her t-shirt. "ANSWER ME!"

The brunette remained completely calm. "I suggest you let me go. You know you're going to lose if you fight me and besides, I don't want you to. We're on the same boat, roomie."

The redhead let go of her. "Tell me everything you know. Please."

Clara sat on the bottom bed and sighed. She wasn't in the mood to talk, as always, but she was well aware of what Rachel was going through and she didn't want to hide the truth from her. "When did you do the test?"

Rachel started pacing back and forth. "The first of May."

"They brought you here tonight: today's the third of May." Yari threw a glance at her roomie. "You don't have three days' worth of memories."

"How is it possible?!"

"Last year I experienced the same thing. And… the reason is… as simple as devastating." Clara saddened at the thought. "They kill whoever fails the test." Her voice became thin and breathless.

The redhead's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No. It's not true, you're lying! They would never do a thing like that!"

"I'm not a liar. I've seen them shooting five of my peers in front of me. The amount of blood…" Clara was reliving the past year as if she were a third and helpless witness of the massacre. The child's ice-blue irises were motionless, frozen in time. "The Reds… the adults… are monsters!"

 ** _The Reds are monsters…. The Reds are monsters. It sounds… familiar. Who told me that?_**

"But… the Reds are our family. We are Reds. I can't believe they would kill us, it doesn't have any sense!" Rachel was about to have an emotional crisis.

"We have been blind all our life. By the way" Clara tried to reassure her. "if you think that Dana has passed it, I'll help you find her, ok?"

"You'll help me, uh?" Rachel looked at her with a skeptical grin. "Before or after you'll brand me?" Her tone was sour and ironic.

"You have always thought of me and others like Michail Weyn as your enemies, but in reality we'd only helped you become stronger. Each one of you."

Rachel raised a brow. "How so?"

"You rebelled against the wrists' cut and you were more motivated to learn how to fight, while the others who accepted them learnt to respect their leader. Now, I want us to fight side by side and help each other out!"

Rachel started to mockingly laugh but the tears that escaped her eyes were not of amusement. "I woke up with a pain in my heart…It's unbearable." She confessed thorugh hiccups. "I'm so scared that something might have happened to Dana…" She covered her wet face with her hands.

Clara said nothing and silently stared at her roomie.

Suddenly, an adult in a red military uniform got close to the room's metal bars. He was holding a rifle in his right hand, while in the other one a food tray. He opened the tray slot and gave it to the children. "A dish for both of you." He said and then left.

Yari stood up to grab the meal. "Finally!" She commented. "I am starving!".

Rachel dried her eyes with the side of her hand and sat on the bed. "Why has he brought it here? Shouldn't we eat in a mess hall?"

The brunette sat beside Rachel. "No, we spend most of the day here. They call us out only when we have to attend our classes."

"Why?"

"Perhaps, they are aware that we hate them, even if there are some kids who believe that the Reds are right and that only the strongest survive. Haven't you asked yourself why they only give us one plate? They want us to fight each other for it. I've seen children die of hunger as they were weak and feared their roomie." She put the plate between her leg and Rachel's. "But I'm not like them. I'm smarter and we have to stay together if we want to survive."

"What if Dana is with someone who doesn't allow her to eat?" Rachel's voice quivered.

"It's simple. We beat the hell out of him… or her." Clara said, while she was biting a piece of bacon.

The redhead smiled for the first time that day. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I want you to join our battle squad." Clara handed the last piece of bacon to Rachel. "Eat! You have to be strong in here or you'll be useless to me."

Rachel obeyed and chewed the meat, mesmerized. "it's wierdly gummy…" She sighed. "What squad?"

"What did you expect?" Clara cleaned the corners of her mouth with a napkin. "We call ourselves malatkì. it means hammers in Russian. We are the survivors of the eighth room. Andrej Makov is our leader, Toni De la Vega is second in command and then there is me, Michail Weyn and Anna Goethe."

"… and I was hoping to never see anyone of you again…" She hesitated. "No offense."

"You don't know it yet, but we are your best friends now."

"What about Frank Cesaro and Tom Smith?" Rachel blood went cold. Deep down she knew the answer.

"They're dead. Tom didn't pass the test while Frank was killed because he refused to kill the target during a mission."

"WHAT?! I don't want to kill anybody! Neither would Dana!"

Clara was about to wolf down the remaining breakfast but she managed to suppress her urges and placed the plate on her roomie's lap. "One day you'll be forced to. Andrej has killed five people, he remembers everything: their faces, their pleas… Michail has committed two murders… he's going nuts."

"Have you ever thought about escaping?"

"Yes, but it's impossible. Just after the test they put a metal device inside our neck. The Monk told us that it gives us substances that make us stronger. However, she forgot to mention that it also pinpoints our location. They always know where we are."

Rachel placed her finger on her aching neck. "How do you know that if the Monk hadn't told us?"

"Some of us tried to escape during a mission but they found them and killed them."

"What if I try to remove it?"

"You'll bleed to death."

"…that's brutal." Rachel stood up and tighly gripped the metal bars.

"When can I meet the other… ma-?"

"Malatkì." Clara stretched her body. "Sometimes the Reds bring us all together in a large room: the Megalos. There, Guardian Stone makes incredibly long and boring speeches, so you'll have a chance to speak with them."

"Why is it so important for me to join your group?"

"Because everyone has to belong to a team. If you don't choose it by yourself, the Reds will choose it for you when they'll send you on a mission."

"When?"

"In a year or two."

"Aren't there solo missions?"

"Yes, but they're very dangerous. If you're alone nobody can help you. Frank died because he refused to assassinate a White Rose during a solo mission, so they had to kill him. Instead, in a team mission any member can kill the target. Usually, it is Andrej Makov that takes the shot. But it isn't always true: there are times that they attach a microcamera to our vests and they decide who has to pull the trigger!"

Rachel tightened the grip on the metal bars. "What if no one wants to kill the enemy?"

Yari approached her and mimicked a gun with her fingers, pointing it towards her roomie's head. "They kill you." And shot. She touched her temple with her two fingers. "Me." She shot another time. "And anyone else in the team."

"Bastards…"

"Do you know what I dream of?"

Rachel shook her head.

"I dream of cutting Guardian Annabelle Joy into tiny little pieces."

"Would you really have the courage to do it?"

"Yes, there's no doubt in my mind."

Rachel frowned. "How? We're too little now!"

"It doesn't matter, I'll wait." Clara's steely resolve quickly earned the redhead's admiration.

Rachel looked through the metal bars but she couldn't see either the beginning or the end of the corridor. **_"Where are you, Dana?"_** She thought.

"You'll see her at your first lesson, if she's still alive. In the meantime, I'll ask around for her." Answered Clara as if she could read her mind.

 ** _If she's still alive…_** **_what if…?_** Rachel tried to get rid of the thought that was emerging in her mind. "When does the first lesson start?"

"I don't know, The Guard will call you out when it's time." Clara threw herself on the bed. "I'm sick of talking to you."

Rachel was left alone with her fears, so she crouched down, crossed her arms and waited.

Seconds were eternal,

And time was beyond endurance.


	22. The statue and the protein

**Chapter 22 = The statue and the protein.**

 **The following day.**

"Rachel Petrini." The Guard called her name.

Although she was laying on her bed and her eyes were close, she was not sleeping. Fear was immobilizing her whole body. She was feeling it in her bones, it was flowing in her veins and tightening up her muscles. It was truth time. A day has passed without knowing Dana's fate and during that time she tried to focus on remembering what happened. She was feeling lost in a maze, just like in her dream. The memory was there, at the end of it, so close and yet so distant. Every time she moved towards the exit the ground would sink into a black puddle. The Monk or the Lobe would have described that in a different way, using scientific terms. Perhaps, they would have substituted the word _maze_ with _neural network_ and ground with _synapse_. Moreover, they would have added that Rachel was a little protein, unable to follow her predefined path.

"Petrini, stand up, NOW!" The Guard shouted and rattled the keys in his hand.

Truth time. She quivered. Was she really ready to know the truth?

The Guard inserted the key in the lock. "That's a order, student! You have to attend your first lesson! Doctine and law."

Clara leaned a little further out of her top bed and whispered, looking below. "Rachel, don't make him wait!"

No, she was not ready at all. She stayed there, on her bed, completely still.

The Guard opened the door and entered the room. He grabbed her by her t-shirt and violently threw her on the ground. "FUCKING STAND UP!

Rachel opened her eyes. She realized she was behaving like a coward. It was time to face the past. She stood up and headed towards the exit.

"Stop right there. Arms behind you back!" The Guard ordered her and put handcuffs around her wrists. "Stay in front of me, I'll tell you where to go."

 ** _Handcuffs, uh? So Clara was telling the truth about the killings… they must know we hate them._**

They walked down the long hall filled with cells on both sides. She carefully looked into each one, searching for Dana, but she didn't see her.

 ** _Please, let her be already in the classroom._**

"Hey, Petrini! You survived!" Shouted Anna Goethe from one of the cells. She had a strange grin on her face.

Rachel nodded a greeting. **_That's a nightmare._** She thought.

They descended a steep set of stairs and found themselves in a huge hall in the shape of a semi-circle. Along its curve there were five doors, while on its flat part the wall was entirely made of glass. From her position, Rachel could see the outside: a garden with tall grass and blossoming trees. She pictured herself and Dana playing together and hiding behind the trees and couldn't help smiling.

"First door on your right." The Guard ordered her.

The kid walked towards the door and stopped in front of it. The Guard placed his hand on the biometric scan and waited for the door to open to unshackle her. "Sit in the last row." He pushed her a little inside and closed the door, staying outside.

The "doctrine and law" classroom was almost identical to the one in the Red Hild, but smaller. A dozen of children were already sitting on the chairs and looked devastated. She knew them, She had seen their faces before, however she had never actually talked to them. At the back of the room two Guards were supervising the students.

She sat where she was told to and many times she felt the urge to ask her peers if they had seen Dana or if they remembered what happened to her, but something prevented her from doing it. Minutes passed and she kept staring at the door, waiting for Dana to appear. Moments of happiness were continuously being stolen from her every time she glimpsed a blonde girl entering through the door and subsequently realise it wasn't her.

When all the seats were taken, Rachel started to shake her head a little.

 ** _She has passed it… she's agile, she's smart, she's confident and courageous…_**

 ** _Agile… smart…_**

After a while a Monk entered the classroom. Although she was definitely younger than the one teaching at the Red By, her posture and her austere gaze made it clear that she wasn't one to mess with.

 ** _She's agile… she's smart…_** Rachel repeated it in her mind throughout half the lesson. She wasn't paying attention to a single word the Monk was saying, until something captured her interest.

"We shall pray, now." Said the Monk with a solemn voice. In that moment a statue of the Red Mother emerged from an opening in the wall. It was exactly as the one in the Red By: the glass structure, the trimmings, the tubes in which the blood…

 ** _…_** ** _blood._** Rachel's heart stopped.

The sight of the statue was converted by her brain into a strong electric current that spread through her whole body, allowing the little protein to overcome the gaps and reach the end of the maze.

 _Annabelle Joy placed herself in front of Rachel. "Do you remember when your friend asked if the blood inside the Red Mother's statue was human? Now you know where it comes from."_

 ** _Human blood… I drank human blood and…_**

Another flashback.

 _"_ _Reds never beg and never disobey." The Guardian pulled the trigger._

 _The bullet pierced right through Dana's skull, scattering chunks of brain all over the child next to her, who fainted. The girl's lifeless body hit the ground and was soon surrounded by a pool of blood._

 ** _Dana's dead…_**

 ** _Dead._**

 ** _I drank children's blood._**

 ** _Dana…_**

The terrible image that her psyche refused to remember was now indelible in her mind. Never would she be able to forget. Her stomach felt heavy.

In the meanwhile some of the other children were praying with thick voices: "From your blood we are born, you gave us life, Red Mother. Beneath your guidance we live, you show us the way, Red Mother. Thanks to your teachings we know the truth that we'll guard in our hearts, so that the Tenth Street Reds could thrive and-"

Rachel loudly threw up on the desk in front of her, interrupting the prayer. Everyone stared at her.

She cleaned her mouth with her sleeve and slowly raised her head. "She _was_ agile, smart, confident and courageous!" She said, while looking at the Monk with blood thirsty eyes. In a matter of seconds, she put her hands on the desk and pushed herself on top of it and then onto the floor, she sprinted towards the Monk and launched herself at her like a missile, throwing her to the ground. She grabbed the woman by the tunic and was about to punch her in the face when a Guard hit her on the head with the butt of his rifle.

* * *

Rachel slightly opened her eyelids. "Dana…" She murmured. She was laying in her room's bed. She could see the blurry face of a girl in front of her. "Dana…?"

"Sorry, I'm not Dana… my hair is brown. A light shade of brown but still brown, see?" Clara said and showed a lock of hair to her roommate. "You really messed up at your first lesson." She giggled. "You almost punched the Monk in the face!"

The redhead tried to pull herself up but her head hurt too much. A moan of pain escaped her lips.

"Stay down." Clara put her hand on her chest and delicately pushed her towards the bed. "The Guard told me that if you do a thing like that again you're dead."

Rachel didn't say anything and stared at the mattress above her. She was feeling numb. Then, she whispered. "I'm in."

Clara looked at her with an interrogative look.

"I want to join your group. I want to make them pay."

Clara grinned. "You made the right decision. Now go blow off some steam or you'll end up crazy as Michail." She suggested and left her on her own.

Rachel wanted to punch the wall, but her body was too weak and she couldn't even find the strength to lift a finger. So she stayed on her bed and quivered and quivered for hours and days.


End file.
